Julia "Judy" Powers Sandercock

Julia Fennell Powers Sandercock, 95,  died on March 29, 2024 at River Landing in Colfax, NC.

 A scholar and a musician, Judy was the second of three children born to John and Elsie Farthing Powers, native North Carolinians with deep roots in Pender and Watauga Counties. Judy grew up in Wallace, NC, where the family moved after Dr. Powers completed his tour with the U.S. Public Health Service. She learned to love books, music, sewing, knitting, birds, plants, and the beach. She was never afraid to get her hair wet.

 At Meredith College in Raleigh, where she was voted “most intellectual” by her classmates, Judy met Marjorie Wilson from Winston-Salem. After college, Judy and Marjorie enrolled at Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York, where they studied under leading theologians. While at Union, Judy met and married Bob Sandercock, a fellow seminarian from Pennsylvania. After Judy finished her degree, she and Bob moved to Northfield, MA where Bob served as the chaplain at the Northfield School for Girls. Judy often said she had never been so cold in her life.

 In 1959, Judy and Bob moved to Easton, PA where Bob had accepted a call as the pastor of the College Hill Presbyterian Church. Few women were ordained as ministers in the 1950s, so Judy taught parables in Sunday school, led the children’s choir, sang in the adult choir, and filled in for the organist, in addition to raising three children. She also gave piano lessons, and was active in Easton Area Community Concerts, bringing classical and folk musicians to the Easton area. Judy loved the antique furniture and stone houses in Pennsylvania, having not seen such rocks as a child in eastern North Carolina. Judy and Bob took their children to visit Bob’s parents in Wind Gap on Sunday afternoons, and visited her parents in North Carolina every summer. 

 In 1981, Judy and Bob moved to Philadelphia, PA where they worked for the Board of Pensions of the United Presbyterian Church as the managers of Prentiss House, a residence for retired missionaries, and as retirement planning consultants for members of the clergy. They retired to Wallace, NC in 1989 to be near Judy’s mother. They moved to River Landing in 2004, where they played in the band and made many friends. They were active at Guilford Park Presbyterian Church. Bob died in May 2019.

 Judy is survived by her three children, John (Gwen Roginsky), Anne Metcalf (Edward), and Stephen (Tara), and four grandchildren, David, Elizabeth, Jeremy, and Meredith, as well as her nephew, Christopher Powers (Lena) and his four children, Morgan, Tucker, Bryant and Bryce. Her sister, Carolyn, and her brother, John, predeceased her.

 A Celebration of Her Life will be held on May 18 at 11:00 a.m at River Landing at Sandy Ridge, 1575 John Knox Rd., Colfax, NC.  Memorials may be made to Greensboro Urban Ministry Pathways Center, 305 W. Gate City Blvd. Greensboro, NC 27406 to benefit the Pathways Kitchenette Project.