Brent and Mamie McArthur Sanders find homes for others, build haven for selves

By PAM HORNE, Special to the Herald

In the heart of southeastern Williamson County where progress and pasture meet, Green Meadow Farm lies still and quiet.
When Brent and Mamie Sanders purchased this property 10 years ago they opted to rebuild an existing home refashioning it into a Southern-style retreat on several acres.

Today, rural Harpeth-Peytonsville Road seems like a million miles away from the couple’s Cool Springs office of McArthur-Sanders Real Estate.

Off in the distance, a healthy mix of regular Angus and Hereford cattle graze, pausing politely to notice a visitor’s arrival to the farm.

Tennessee Walking Horses also share a portion of this lovely spread as evidenced by a handsome barn and clear pond situated close by.

An elegant frame Colonial sits facing west amidst all this beauty. Its front porch runs the length of the home signaling good things are yet to come. Inside, wide-plank yellow poplar floors and hand-hewn ceiling beams of the same wood link this home to the past.

The floors are original to the house and the beams were preserved from a log cabin that once belonged to Sam Fleming’s family, according to Mamie.

Fleming, a Williamson County native son, became one of Nashville’s most influential bankers and respected businessmen. He served as longtime president of Third National Bank.

The centerpiece of the house is a stunning Tennessee limestone fireplace. Its wood mantle, also cut from poplar, harkens earlier days when homes were constructed with materials only the land could provide.

Mamie shares how this property was originally acquired through a Revolutionary War land grant, which so many early settlers were presented with as payment for their patriotism. Her own family settled on the eastern side of the county under similar circumstances moving here from Louisiana nearly 200 years ago to build Ravenswood in Brentwood.

“It just feels old and we like it,” Mamie said as we begin our tour of the home.

The Sanders’ home honors the past, but more importantly it provides the couple with a comfortable venue for entertaining small and large gatherings.

The living and dining room combination provides ample space for Brent and Mamie’s English antiques. A grand piano in the entry hall awaits all musicians but Brent purchased it especially for Mamie to play.

On the first level a large guest suite complete with sitting room, bedroom and private bath accommodates children and grandchildren who frequently visit. On the same level, opposite the entry hall, the Sanders created a master suite, which opens onto a sunken porch that offers a spectacular view of the property.

McArthur-Sanders nears 30 years
As Brent and Mamie embark on their 27th year at the helm of McArthur-Sanders Real Estate, they talk a lot about the memories they cherish deeply and less about the competition of the marketplace.

With nearly 70 years of combined experience, Brent and Mamie have helped countless numbers of Williamson County families buy and sell their properties.

They say they’re privileged to still be sharing in one of the most personal decisions individuals make in a lifetime.
“The joy of this company is we’re in our sixties and we can still continue to work in the work we love and that’s what is so fabulous,” Mamie explains.

McArthur-Sanders has represented the interests of hundreds of folks over the years – business and residential - when the local market was flying high and even fighting off a bad slump in the mid-80s.

Yet, they’ve never let the slumps discourage them or their clients. And their success just seems to have made them all the more humble.

Having lived here her entire life Mamie says the strength of Williamson County is the abiding affection its people have toward one another.

She recalls a time as a youngster when she had to pull a playmate out of a coal pile at Trinity School. Years later that same playmate would ask her to list the property he inherited from his family.

Brent emphasizes how much the loyalty of longtime friends and associates means to both of them especially as they have faced life’s challenges.

“We’re talking about a character of people wanting to help each other,” Mamie said.

Several years ago that point was brought home all too clearly when Brent learned that his heart was failing and failing badly.
His real estate schedule was placed on the back burner and he began to prepare for an impending heart transplant. Life took a twist the couple could have never foreseen.

“We were told that either Brent had to have a heart transplant or he might not make it six months,” she recalls.

That news, in and of itself, was shocking enough, but what Brent and Mamie did not expect was the outpouring of support bestowed upon them by neighbors, churches, business associates, and long time friends.

They had only lived in their home a couple of years when Brent’s health weakened, but the Harpeth-Peytonsville community joined with others across the county to shower the family with “blessings,” according to Mamie.

“With God’s grace and the community we made it. We received so much food from all denominations of churches for months and months. Can you imagine how much that helped me?”

Neighbors, like Carol White and Pam Marlin, who also happened to be nurses, were on stand by 24 hours a day to aid Brent should he be called with a transplant match.

Mamie made arrangements to stay with Brent at St. Thomas Hospital in Nashville where he would have a prolonged recovery.

Meanwhile, the company had to keep moving forward.

Today, Mamie can’t talk about the ordeal without mentioning the loyalty which her real estate colleagues and associates showed she and Brent during this difficult time in their lives.
Other brokers, she said, placed their business competition aside to make sure the couple got through the difficult period.
“They prepared us well but we did not have to walk that journey,” Mamie shared of the almost miraculous healing which Brent experienced.

The emergency plans and calls to neighbors in the middle of the night never materialized because Brent’s heart began to heal. The combination of lots of prayers, rest, a change in diet and successful reaction to medication prescribed by Dr. David Allen made the transplant unnecessary.

Instead he underwent a much less extensive heart valve surgery and three months later Brent and Mamie had a new lease on life.

Not one to mince words or hold back his humor Brent jokes that he’s got a “150-year warranty on his microwave” and is just happy with the arrival of each new day.

As 2006 comes to a close Brent and Mamie are looking forward to growing their business with a move to a new location on Galleria Boulevard this spring. Until then they’ll be enjoying the remainder of the holidays with friends and family and keeping a close eye on all those who have made their dreams come true.

“We are just so blessed,” Mamie says with a smile that would light up any room.
 

Posted on: 12/28/2006