Margaret Emma Broeker Sanders was born on September 22, 1915 in Lawrence, Kansas to John Fred Carl Broeker and Margaretha Christina Bayer Broeker. Her youngest sibling, Fred Ernest Broeker, was active in local law enforcement, including a term as Sheriff of Douglas County.

Sanders graduated from Liberty Memorial High School in Lawrence and attended the University of Kansas. She graduated from KU in 1936 with a bachelor's degree and a certificate to teach English, German and Mathematics. Sanders attended Lawrence Business College to study shorthand and accounting.

In January 1937, Sanders took the position of bookkeeper with Dodge-Plymouth, Bullene-Skinner Motor Co. in Lawrence. She continued with Ransdell-Skinner Motor Co. and Ransdell Motor Service until the company was sold. Sanders took a position as a clerk/typist with the United States Geological Survey, Water Resources Kansas Division in 1957. She continued to work with the Geological Survey until her retirement in 1980, by which time she had become an Administrative Officer.

Early in the 1960s, Sanders joined the Lawrence Color Camera Club. She traveled to numerous states including California, New Mexico, and Texas; and she took a two week trip to Europe, with her sister, Marianne C. Broeker Hadl, to attend the 350th anniversary performance of The Passion Play at Oberammergau, Germany, all the while documenting her journeys through photographs.

In 1985, Sanders married Raymond W. "Tag" Sanders, a long-time friend and former coworker at Ransdell Motor Service. Tag died in 1989, and Sanders continued living at the Broeker family home in North Lawrence where she had lived since 1916. Margaret Broeker Sanders passed away November 16, 2017.