Rebekah Yates Anders, M.D., 90, of Peachtree City, and lately of Columbus, Ga., died July 22, 2015.
She was born in Macon, Ga. on September 4, 1924 to Gladys Davidson Yates and James Emory Yates, Jr., both Macon natives. She attended the Clisby School, Alexander IV Elementary School, Miller High School, and was a member of Vineville Baptist Church. She spent many fond summers at Girl Scout Camp Martha Johnson near Macon, Ga. and Camp Civitania in Austell, Ga. In 1940 she won first place in a statewide Latin contest sponsored by the Georgia Classical Society.
She moved with her family to Tampa, Fla. in 1940, where she graduated as Valedictorian from Plant High School in 1942. A scholarship allowed her to attend Wesleyan College in Macon, Ga. There she received the Leon P. Smith Award in 1946 for her research project on the effects of DDT on tadpoles. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Wesleyan in 1946 with a B.A., then taught Biology and Chemistry for two years at Washington Seminary, an all-girls high school in Atlanta, a precursor to The Westminster Schools.
She worked as a research laboratory technician under Dr. Sidney Madden at Grady Hospital in Atlanta, Ga., then at the new Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long Island, N.Y., studying the effects of radiation. She attended medical school at the University of Rochester in Rochester, N.Y. from 1949 – 1953. At Rochester, she met classmate Patrick Lloyd Anders of Bethlehem, Pa. They were married March 22, 1951. She gave birth to the first of their six children, Patricia, on June 2, 1953, between final exams and graduation from medical school. The unusual feat attracted national attention when the Associated Press placed a photo in newspapers around the country of the two physicians in cap and gown holding their newborn. Dean George Whipple, a Nobel Prize winning physician, discreetly applauded her as she crossed the stage to receive her diploma.
After graduation and the birth of her first child, Dr. Anders completed an internship at Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta, Ga. in 1954. As husband Dr. Patrick Anders served in the U.S. Navy from 1954-62, Drs. Anders lived in Key West, Fla. from 1954-56, Levittown, N.Y. from 1956-59, and Camp Lejeune, N.C. from 1960-62, having a child or two at each Naval Base along the way.
In 1962, Drs. Rebekah and Patrick Anders moved their family of eight to Atlanta, Ga. and opened a private practice in Obstetrics and Gynecology at South Fulton Hospital in East Point, Georgia. Dr. Rebekah enjoyed the office practice until her retirement in 1999 at the age of 75. She was an active member of Ben Hill Baptist Church in Atlanta, Ga. from 1962-1976. She was involved in the countless school, music and church activities of her six children, serving PTAs, as physician on band trips, teaching Sunday School and Training Union. She took in husband Pat’s elderly Aunt Blodwyn and cared for her in her home for a decade, and took in her elderly parents as well.
In 1972 the Anders family moved to Fayette County, Ga. and became active members, of New Hope Baptist Church in Fayetteville, Ga. in 1976.
In 1986 Dr. Anders received the Wesleyan Alumnae Award for Distinguished Achievement. She helped found TLC2, a home for unwed mothers, which later merged with Georgia Baptist Children’s Homes and Family Ministries. In 2004 she and husband Pat moved to Peachtree City, Ga. to live with son David L. Anders, M.D. and his family of seven. In 2011, at the age of 87, she published a children’s book, “The Silver Bell” and coauthored another with son David, “Octogenarians Say The Darndest Things.” From 2013 to 2014, she lived with son Mark A. Anders, M.D. and his family, and with daughter Janet A. Banks, R.N., BSN, and her family, sharing time between Columbus, Ga. and Warner Robins, Ga. She lived the last year of her life in the home of son Mark in Columbus, Ga.
In spite of her inspiring achievements, she will undoubtedly be most remembered for her cheerful kindness, endless patience, joyous disposition, and unwavering faith. She adored her family, friends and church, and they adored her in return.
She will be terribly missed by a long list of loving survivors: six children: Patricia “Tricia” Yates Anders Jones, EdD; Elizabeth “Buffie” Anders DuPuis, MD and husband Mark H. DuPuis, MD; David Lloyd Anders, MD and wife Kenya Houghton Anders, MD; Janet Anders Banks, RN, BSN, and husband Abe Joseph Banks, MSA, MBA; Mark Alan Anders, MD, CPA, and wife Kris Creecy Anders, CPA, MTax; Timothy Wayne Anders, CPA and wife Michelle Müller Anders, MS.
She is also survived by 20 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren: Jennifer Jones Sharits, MA, CCC-SLP, and husband Andrew D. Sharits, Laura Elizabeth Jones, MDiv, Jordan David Jones, Christopher Anders DuPuis, CPA, Nicholas Anders DuPuis, JD, Rebekah Joan Anders, Lloyd Davidson Anders, Luke Noble Anders, Rachel Elizabeth Anders, Lincoln James Anders, Caleb Joseph Banks, Rebekah Joyce Banks, Sara Kathryn Banks, Nathan Joseph Banks, Lisa Marie Williams and husband Bradley Scott Williams, Emily Joy Anders, John Patrick Anders, William Lloyd Anders, Hannah Alexandra Anders, RN, BSN, Katherine “Katie” Grace Anders, Natalie Lauren Sharits, Camden Andrew Sharits and Jessica Anne Sharits.
She is preceded in death by her husband of 63 years, Patrick Lloyd Anders, MD, by her parents Gladys Davidson Yates and James Emory Yates, Jr. and by two siblings: Carolyn Yates Long and The Honorable James Emory Yates, III.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to: Georgia Baptist Children’s Homes and Family Ministries, P.O. Box 329, Palmetto, Ga. 30268 (www.gbchfm.org)
Funeral services were held Saturday, July 25, 2015 at 11 a.m. at Carl J. Mowell & Son Funeral Home, 180 N. Jeff Davis Dr., Fayetteville, Ga. 30214. Rev. Dr. Dwight “Ike” Reighard officiated. The family received friends from 10 to 11 a.m. prior to services. Interment followed at Forest Lawn Memorial Gardens in College Park, Ga.
A video tribute to the life of Dr. Rebekah Anders can be viewed at: https://youtu.be/Rl3vwuJ5974
Carl J. Mowell & Son Funeral Home, Fayetteville – www.mowellfuneralhome.com
