Overview
- An obituary from Hobbs Funeral Home confirms Sanders died peacefully Saturday at her Scarborough home at age 74, and she is survived by her daughters, siblings, grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews.
- Public visiting hours will be held Sunday from 12 to 4 p.m. at Hobbs Funeral Home on Cottage Road in South Portland.
- Sanders became a Maine icon as Birdie Googins in Marden's TV ads from the mid-2000s through 2013 and later performed stand-up as the character, with Marden's co-owner Jake Marden praising her creativity and professionalism.
- Beyond the commercials, she performed widely in regional theater across Maine, New Hampshire and Kentucky and, with her husband Jerry and collaborator Steve Underwood, co-wrote the musicals The Gold Rush Girls, Spellbound! and the revue Radical Radio.
- After Jerry Sanders' death in 2013, she co-wrote and acted in the short film Face It, which previewed at the Vancouver and Sarasota film festivals in 2015, wrote the comedy Homer Bound that continues to be produced, and began teaching playwriting and acting at the University of Southern Maine in 2017.