Newell Sanders Anderson, Jr.

Newell Sanders Anderson, Jr., died on April 13, 2024, of complications from Alzheimer’s disease.  He was preceded in death by his parents, Newell Sanders Anderson, Sr., Ann Rochelle Anderson, stepmother Jane Anderson, and beloved aunt, Norinne Hickman.  He is survived by spouse Lynne McFarland, former wife and mother of his children, Natalia Borisow Anderson, sons Newell Anatol Anderson (Tasha), John Walter “Ichabod” Anderson, grandsons Parrish and Gryffin Anderson, stepdaughter Ebie McFarland (Jon-Paul Bruno), sisters Rochelle Veum (Doug), Cathy Wilhite (Doug), brothers Jim Anderson and Mike Anderson (Flo), nieces Maureen Grun (Jimmy), Linda Black, Bonnie Phillips (Scott), Maggie Sorel (Jason), and Katie Murphy.  

Newell deeply valued participating in the groups that he loved:  His high school Alma Mater, old Knoxville High School, his college fraternity at UT-Knoxville, Kappa Sigma, the Episcopal student center at UT (Tyson House), Boy Scouts in Manhattan and Greenwich Village in NYC, St. Augustine’s Chapel on the Vanderbilt campus, the Obama election campaigns of 2008 and 2012.  

He was the ultimate encourager with a Mr. Rogers style of lending support. “I think you will do a great job.”  He loved planning and preparing meals for others, as the smudged pages of numerous cookbooks attest.  For a number of years, the family gathered for Thursday night dinners that Newell prepared. There was no dish that could not be made better by the addition of at least two extra ingredients than the recipe called for.  Likewise, when he built something (e.g., the first bunk beds for the women’s program that is now Thistle Farms), it was “the more screws and nails the better.”  His good Southern gentleman manners did not fail.  Nor his wit.

Newell was born and reared in Knoxville TN, the eldest of five children.  He graduated from UT-Knoxville, as he put it Lawdy How-Come, and worked in advertising in Knoxville, Chattanooga, and Atlanta before moving to NYC and later New Jersey, where he worked for many years at Prudential Insurance before returning to Tennessee, where the family settled in Nashville.  

The family appreciates very much the care Newell received from the VA Medical Center (Dr. James Powers, Dr. Sumathi Misra, Ms. Carol Nestler) and Alive Hospice (Ms. Tamela Scales RN, Ms. Elaine Sullo RN,  Ms. Loretta Cook NP, Ms. Theresa Carrington SW, Ms. Angela Clark CNA, Dr. Ann Meadows).

Newell will be buried at Larkspur in the meadow. 
 Memorial gifts may be made to Thistle Farms, to Thistle Farms, 
 5122 Charlotte Pike, Nashville, TN 37209.