A Life Story

Sandrae Jenness McCorkle passed away peacefully on Wednesday, July 22, 2026. A longtime resident of Wilmington Island, Sandrae was born and raised in Ridgeland, South Carolina spending her summers on the Chechessee River. As a college student she was named Miss Jasper County and participated in the Miss South Carolina Pageant. After graduating from Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina, she obtained her Master’s in Education from the University of Georgia where she met the true love of her life, her husband, the late Robert Lee McCorkle Jr. of Savannah. They met at the Baptist Student Union on Lumpkin Street in Athens and were engaged 21 days later (following a short “break-up”). After 33 years of marriage, and a 21-year separation following Robert’s death in 2005, they are finally reunited through Christ. Sandrae taught English for more than thirty years to high school students at the old Tompkins High School, Hancock Day School and Benedictine Military School and later to middle schoolers at St. Andrew’s School. Sandrae was a dynamic force as a teacher, both feared and loved by her students. She was passionate about American literature and was a grammar expert who drilled her students on pronoun charts and preposition choices. Following retirement Sandrae volunteered for numerous organizations though her passion was the Live Oak Public Libraries Board where she served as a long-standing member and leader. As Chairman, she helped oversee construction of the Southwest Chatham branch of the library next to the former Savannah Mall. Later in life as her mobility declined, “Nanna’s” joy was found spending time with her grandchildren and watching her Bulldogs play football. She was a Member of Wesley Monumental United Methodist Church. Sandrae was predeceased by her parents Sanders and Thelma Jenness of Ridgeland, South Carolina, her beloved husband Robert Lee McCorkle, Jr. and her daughter Meredith McCorkle. She is survived by her son Robert Lee McCorkle, III, daughter-in-law Laurel Williams McCorkle, her two grandchildren Katherine Feriby McCorkle, a student at The University of Georgia, and Robert Lee McCorkle, IV, a senior at Benedictine Military School, as well as her sister Kathryn Jenness Black and brother-in-law B. Otis Black of Okatie, South Carolina. The family will receive friends from 5:00 to 7:00 pm on Monday, July 27th at Fox & Weeks Funeral Home at 7200 Hodgson Memorial Drive, Savannah, Georgia. Joint funeral services for Sandrae and her daughter Meredith will be held at the same Fox & Weeks location at 11:00 am on Tuesday, July 28th. In lieu of flowers, remembrances can be made to the Wesley Monumental United Methodist Church “Save Our Sanctuary” fund at wesleymonumental.org.