Obituary of Stella Cobbs Anderson

Stella Cobbs Anderson, 93, of Talladega passed away Friday after a brief illness. She was preceded in death by her husband, Lewis Daniel Anderson, her son, Lewis Daniel Anderson, Jr., her sister, Lida Cobbs Bowman, and her son in law, William Boyd McGehee, III. She was born Stella Stickney Cobbs on August 14, 1931, in Anniston, Alabama, where she attended Anniston High School. She went on to matriculate from Saint Mary’s School in Raleigh, NC, in 1951. She met the love of her life, Lewis Daniel Anderson, when she was a toddler visiting family in Greensboro, Alabama. They loved each other all throughout their childhood, prolifically writing letters back and forth until they married in 1951. Their marriage was a testament to true love and mutual adoration, and she happily spent her life supporting him in his distinguished career as an attending physician at various medical universities before retired as Head of Orthopedics at the University of South Alabama. She continued to treasure him even after his death in 1997. Their marriage took them to Philadelphia, PA and Memphis, TN before they settled in Mobile, AL. They eventually retired to their weekend home on Dauphin Island where she was an active member of St. Francis Episcopal Church. A lover of nature and amateur ornithologist, she was never far from her binoculars and was a frequent volunteer at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab. Stella’s family was her heart and soul. Her marriage produced four children, Evelyn Anderson McGehee (William), Lewis Daniel Anderson (Tracey), Tunstall Cobbs Anderson (Lynne), and Lida Anderson Cotton (Terry). Despite arthritic hands, she lovingly knitted an afghan for each one of her 10 grandchildren (Katherine Collins, Stella Tuten, Boyd McGehee, Patricia Weinberg, Daniel Anderson, Virginia Tice, Sarah Gross, Christopher Anderson, Joseph Cotton, and Wiley Anderson) as well as for each of her 18 great-grandchildren. Answering “Mammy,” she had a deep connection with each of her grandchildren who were known to call her just because they liked to talk to her and ask for her no-nonsense advice. She loved the family lake cabin in Eastaboga where everyone would pile in to celebrate holidays as well as the summer weeks at the gulf with all the generations running around the beach. Stella had a quick wit and a wicked sense of humor, loving to shock her family with little quips and making a show of turning down her hearing aid when she thought they were too noisy. Stella‘s absence will be deeply felt, but her family finds peace knowing that she is happy to finally be reunited with her husband and her son whom she loved and missed so much. The family wishes to thank Stella’s caregivers, especially Dorothy Curry, for looking after her with such kindness and making her last days comfortable. Stella will be lovingly laid to rest at a graveside service Thursday, December 19, 2024, at 1:00 PM at Oakwood Cemetery in Greensboro, AL. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to any of the Episcopal churches that meant so much to Stella during her lifetime: St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, Talladega; St. Francis Episcopal Church,, Dauphin Island; or St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Greensboro. Usrey Funeral Home in Talladega Al. will direct the service.