Harriet Alice Sanborn

life story

Take the girl out of the islands, but you can't take the islands out of the girl!!

Anyone who knew her also knew that she could turn a barren land into a lush flowering jungle!! She loved her time in the sun enjoying the visiting birds, tending her flowers, ferns, and more. She would spend sun-up to sun-down in her very own oasis. Until her very last days, she would say "I need sun!"

She loved to "talk story" every chance she was given. Her most shared stories were about life when she was a child and events that she lived through. If you listened to her stories you would learn that she spent some time living on a coffee plantation, that her father would hunt boar and dry their own meats, she would tell about learning her favorite past time of crochet from one of the nuns that looked after her, and so much more.

She shared stories of her adventures on the island: sliding down falls, walking through lava tubes, climbing trees for coconuts, fun at the beach with her siblings, and she would light up and laugh while she told the stories of how as an older teen, her and the other girls would wait so excitedly for the sailors to arrive in port. She eventually married one of those sailors.

She would "talk story" about surviving tidal waves, the attack on Pearl Harbor, and so much more.

Her stories were always full of experiences that were, despite her Catholic baptism and upbringing, rooted in the Ancient Hawaiian Spirituality and mythology, for example, there's no way to leave her without coming to know about the Menehune, Pele, akualele (fire balls), and how the Hula is both sacred and tells a story.

She may have spent the remainder of her adult years on the "mainland", but she was forever an "island girl".

About Harriet Alice Sanborn

Harriet passed away at the age of 89 from heart disease in the comfort of home on June 24, 2022.

She was born on September 20, 1932 at the Hilo Memorial Hospital in Hilo, Territory of Hawaii (Still territory at that time).

She is the daughter of Robert Sanborn Sr. and Alice (Brooks) Sanborn.

She was baptized at the Church of Sacred Heart Wai'ohinu, Hawaii on December 1, 1932.

Harriet completed her education in Hawaii and continued further secondary studies upon residing on the "mainland".

While still living on the islands, she met and married a sailor named Dwayne Edward Collins and moved to the "mainland". Years later, she married her second husband, Ronald Dewayne Roseberry.

Harriet was a very caring and self-sacrificing soul. She loved to "talk story" in the Hawaiian tradition, she loved to share stories of her Hawaiian culture, her youth and life growing up on the islands. Her talent and favorite past time was crochet, she would spend hours creating the most intricate and delicate crochet laces. She also loved baking, gift giving, bird watching, flower gardens, boat rides, sight-seeing, and chocolate sundaes (don't ever forget the peanuts).

In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by first husband Dwayne Edward Collins, second husband Ronald Dewayne Roseberry, sisters Sally, Rita, Leilani, Dolly, and brother Robert Sanborn Jr., including her oldest son Clayton Leon Collins.

Surviving is her son Scot Collins and his wife, Melody, of Bentonia, Mississippi; daughters, Arlette Collins-Kelly of Hemet, California, and Leilani Roseberry of Lake Elsinore, California;

7 grandchildren: Ashley, Mundus, Jason, Melissa, Christy, Melody, and Scotty;

20 great-grandchildren: Alison, Darren, Kalani, Jessica, Dedra, Kayla, Courtney, Jaymie, Alix, Ethan, Josie, Sadie, Laina, Jeremy (JJ), Whitney, Jakob, Layla, Brody, Beckham, Fletcher;

13 great-great grandchildren: Emmett James, Tyler, Hayden, Lilly, Keyleigh, Waylon, Rilynn, Brennan, Brylie, Bennett, Lilith, Lukas, and Stella.

memorial service

Funeral and Interment

July 12, 2022

Stricklin-King Funeral Home 718 Calhoun Ave, Yazoo City, MS 39194, USA

Harriet passed away in Lake Elsinore, California, but will be laid to rest in Yazoo City, Mississippi next to her eldest son Clayton Leon Collins.

Grimes-Akes Family Funeral Home of Corona, California has handled her preparation to return to Yazoo City, Mississippi.

Stricklin-King Funeral Home-Visitation 9:30am - 10:30am (Central Time)

Glenwood Cemetery-Interment 11:00am-12:00pm (Central Time) Potters Field Rd., Yazoo City, MS 39194

http://www.interment.net/data/us/ms/yazoo/glenwood/index.htm

Floral deliveries can be arranged through Yazoo Florist and Gifts

https://www.yazooflorist.com/

Funeral/Cremation Provider: Stricklin-King Funeral Home