Gwendolyn Roach

Funeral services for Gwendolyn Holmes Sands Roach, 48, formerly of Monticello, were held Friday at St. Paul A.M.E. Church with interment held in Lawnwood Memorial Park in Covington. The Rev. Augustus Hall officiated.
Mrs. Roach was born in Montgomery, Ala. to the late Artillios Holmes and Martha Ramsey Holmes. She attended elementary school in Alabama and the age of 14 moved to New York to live with her aunt and uncle, the late Floyd and Alice Ramsey. She graduated from the New York Public School System and furthered her education by attending business school.
Mrs. Roach returned to Montgomery and on a visit to Monticello she met her adopted Georgia family, Charles and Lois Standifer, whom she later moved in with.
While in Monticello, she met and married Curtis G. Sands and bore a daughter, Martha Felisha Sands. She was a member of Kings Chapel A.M.E. Church, charter member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference Monticello Chapter and the Kiwanis Club. She had worked as a typesetter for The Monticello News.
She later married Benny “Frank” Roach and they made their home in Covington where she joined St. Paul A.M.E. Church of which she was president of the A.H. Hall Usher Board. Mrs. Roach was employed by the Rockdale County Water & Sewer Authority and worked part-time at Walmart.
Loved ones preceding her in death included her parents, aunt and uncle, Christopher Key, Arlene Ramsey, Louise Barker, Carrie Mae Carter, Dorothy Jackson.
In addition to her daughter and husband, survivors include stepchildren, Angela Parham of Monticello, Lavette Roach of Sparta, Anthony Roach of Stone Mountain and Dexter Roach of Monticello; sister, Reba Finerson of Montgomery, Ala.; brother, Floyd Holmes of Atlanta; two nieces, Yolanda Goldsmith of Montgomery, Ala. and Syntria Holmes of Monticello; nephews, Michael Finerson of Doraville, Katon Finerson of Montgomery, Ala., and Prentiss Sands of Monticello; sisters in love, Louise Davenport, Alberta Carter, both of Atlanta, Mary Lois Standifer, Catherine Davis, Bonnie Mullins and Carolyn Thurman, all of Monticello; brother in love Tommy Jackson of Monticello; 13 grandchildren, two aunts, one uncle and a number of other relatives and friends.
Lester Lackey & Sons Funeral Home was in charge of arrangements.