Maude Saunders Sharp

Maude Saunders Sharp, known as Maudie, died peacefully on All Hallows’ Eve, October 31, 2026, just in time to join, and be celebrated in, the glorious company of the saints in light on All Saints, her favorite feast day.

Maudie was born on December 7, 1933 in New Orleans, Louisiana, to Anna Katherine (Kitty) Thomas and Garvin Shands Saunders. Her father died in 1936, and in 1939, her mother married Cyril Compton Gaiennie, Sr. who was devoted to Maudie and she to him.

While living in New Orleans, Maudie attended the Isidore Newman School until the 8th grade when the family moved to Hammond, Louisiana. She was a student at Southeastern Louisiana College Laboratory School there until her junior year when she became a boarder at the Louise S. McGehee School from which she graduated in 1951. At McGehee, she excelled in both academics and athletics.

Maudie then entered H. Sophie Newcomb College of Tulane University. At Newcomb, she served in various leadership capacities, including the Student Council and president of the Newcomb Honor Board. She was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and several other honor societies, and she was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma Fraternity. Maudie continued to remain active in Newcomb alumni affairs, serving as a Class Agent until her death.

The week after her college graduation, Maudie married U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Wiley Howard Sharp, Jr., and they embarked on 37 years of adventure together which lasted until Wiley died in a tractor accident at the age of 59. Both Maudie and Wiley were intellectually curious, interested and interesting, and that combined with their love and appreciation of each other and their love of life and other people made them the team they were. Their shared priorities of God, family and friends was evident in every aspect of their lives, both separately and together, and their shared gift of hospitality was truly legendary.

Maudie’s deep faith in a loving God, which evolved throughout her life, sustained her as she adjusted to the next 33 years without Wiley. Although she was involved with numerous civic and social organizations, it was her participation in lay ministry as an Episcopalian that she found most fulfilling. She attended Trinity Episcopal Church in New Orleans during her early years, and, as an adult, Grace Memorial Episcopal Church in Hammond became her faith community. Over her sixty years of membership at Grace Memorial, she served as Senior Warden four times, on the Vestry, as a lector, and as a Christian formation teacher. She belonged to St. Margaret’s Guild and was recently honored as one of the diocesan Episcopal Church Women of the Year for her ministry and service.

In addition to her ministry at Grace Memorial, Maudie served the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana as a two-time deputy to the General Convention and a member of the Standing Committee, and she also served as a Trustee for the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, for several terms. She was a founding Board Member of the Solomon Episcopal Conference Center in Robert, Louisiana, and continued to serve on the Board until very recently.

To know Maudie was to love her. Her children, Wiley “Wis” H. Sharp III (Debbie), Katherine “Kit” T. S. McLean (Bill), and Garvin “Sandy” S. Sharp (Anne), have been blessed to have loved and been loved by her all their lives as have her grandchildren: Katharine “Kate” M. Rogers (Matt), Kennedy O’Brien Sharp, Stein P. Thorbeck (Regina), Wiley “Will” H. Sharp IV (Jamie), William “Will” T. McLean (Molly), Wilson S. Sharp (Cameron), and Katherine S. Webb (Wesley); and her 14 great-grandchildren. She is also survived by her brother, Cyril “C.C.” C. Gaiennie, Jr. (Carolyn); her brother-in-law, Michael “Mike” R. Sharp (Judy); and sister-in-law, Melanie S. Lanaux (Gaston); along with numerous other relatives and countless friends whose lives were graced by Maudie’s presence in them.

A Requiem Eucharist will be held on Friday, November 13, 2026, at 11 a.m. at Grace Memorial Episcopal Church, 100 West Church Street, Hammond. Interment will follow immediately in the church cemetery.

If you would like to honor Maudie, please do your best to be open, calm, kind, thoughtful, gracious, and grateful and to live and give love in your own unique way. If you would like to make a gift in her honor, please make a donation to the Grace Memorial Episcopal Church Endowment or the charity of your choice.