Barbara Laughlin Sansbury

Barbara Sansbury, 93 of Santee, South Carolina, passed away on Wednesday, September 24, 2025.

Born on November 13, 1931, in Gaffney, SC Barbara was a daughter of the late Lorena Wilson Laughlin and Jasper Lee Laughlin. 

Barbara, with her late husband Ferrel, moved to Santee, SC in 1972 where they built their lakeside dream home in the Santee Cooper Resort overlooking Lake Marion. Barbara exercised her highly creative talent by designing their home and overseeing construction herself. Her creativity was not limited to home design, but included building an entrepreneurial giftware business, as well as implementing the design, patenting, and marketing of a unique yarn organizer for needlepoint enthusiasts. Her hobbies over the years included painting, basket weaving, needle and petit point creations, quilting, writing poetry, and even becoming rather proficient at golf. Barbara was an avid reader. This particular avocation allowed her in her later years to travel the world while remaining on her beloved sunporch. 

Barbara absolutely loved her lakeside view. She attributed her long life to God granting her the peacefully serene view over Lake Marion from her sunporch. Here she communed daily, most times hourly, with her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ with whom she had an intimate relationship. She loved her Lord, worshiped Him continually, and shared her love of Him with all who came to visit. 

Barbara is preceded in death by her husband Ferrel Sansbury (1929 – 2020) and her parents, her brothers and sisters, Jasper Lee Laughlin, Jr., James Laughlin, Wilma Self, Pauline Thomas, and Ann Hull, and her daughter-in-law, Melinda Rankin Sansbury. 

Barbara is survived by sons F. Roy Sansbury (Rosa) of Van Wyck, SC, and Douglas Randell Sansbury, of Midlothian, VA, six grandchildren, Bennett and Wilson Sansbury, Joshua, Jacob, Joseph, and Catherine Sansbury, and nine great grandchildren, Emma, Benton, Palyn, and Landon Sansbury; Charlotte, Luke, Sawyer, and Avery Pryor; and Mabel Sansbury who lives in heaven with her great grandmother. 

A memorial service will be held Saturday, November 1, 2025, at 11 AM at Santee Presbyterian Church, 306 Bradford Blvd., Santee. 

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that any memorial contributions may be made to Santee Presbyterian Church specifically for the upkeep of the John C. Doubles Memorial Prayer Garden, a peaceful sanctuary appreciated by both Barbara and Ferrel. 

Expressions of sympathy may be viewed or submitted online at avingerfh.com/. 

Funeral arrangements have been entrusted to Avinger Funeral Home, 2274 Eutaw Rd, Holly Hill, SC 29059, (803)496-3434