Robert Wendell Sanders ^{1 2 3}

  General Notes:

(Source: Rob Sanders, via FindAGrave.com)

My father, Robert Wendell Sanders, was Christened in 1927 in the United Brethern Church (now Church of the Master United Methodist), on the campus of Otterbein College in Westerville, Ohio. I was Christened there nearly twenty years later. This was the home of the congregation his grandfather, Franklin Pierce Sanders, had served as pastor. Otterbein was the college Dad's great uncle Thomas Jefferson Sanders served as president.

Bob attended Westerville High School (now Westerville South), where he played football as a 132 pound center. He talked often of the hard, knee-pumping running style of fullback "Curly" Morrison of Upper Arlington (later a star with the Cleveland Browns).

Dad left Westerville High prior to commencement exercises to enlist in the Navy during the spring of 1945. He served aboard USS Laertes (AR-20). Laertes arrived in Pearl Harbor on the 1st anniversary of D-Day; June 6, 1945. In Eniwetok she repaired ships damaged in the battles of the final months of the war. In October Laertes participated in the invasion of Okinawa where she survived a hail of Kamikaze attacks. On November 8 Laertes headed for home, docking at Bremerton, WA December 1, 1945. Her crew worked on ships being prepared for inactivation through 1946, at Bremerton then San Diego. Bob, electrician's mate petty officer 3rd class, was one of the last in his department to leave the ship for discharge.

When he returned home to Westerville Dad enrolled at The Ohio State University, with thousands of returning veterans, aided by the GI Bill. September 27, 1946, he married Betty Ruth Busic of Westerville. The following spring, I was born near campus at Doctors' Hospital. I don't recall the events, but there are family pictures of me at Mirror Lake Hollow and the Armory on the Ohio State campus during Dad's student days. We lived in Westerville during this time. Dad majored in Physics and graduated in 1950 with a BA in Education. He also held an MA in Education (1959) from OSU and an MS in Chemistry (1963) from the University of New Hampshire.

We moved to Quincy, Logan Co., OH in 1950. Dad took his first teaching job at Rosewood, in Champaign Co... He taught eight classes; eight different subjects. I believe the graduating class numbered twelve. His salary for the '50-'51 school year was $2,200. Mom and Dad organized a square dance for the students and met with some moral approbation. We lived in a second story apartment above a drug store in the center of Quincy. My first memories are there. I slept in the dining room on a cot, near the pot bellied stove. Dad and I would go down the fire escape to the coal shed to get fuel for the fire. My sister was born there.

Bob was pleased to get a teaching position at his high school alma mater the following year, and we returned to Westerville. We lived in a small house on the south side of W. Main Street, near the EUB Church. Dad taught Chemistry and was an assistant football coach.

In 1953 Dad took a new job teaching Chemistry and Physics at Taylor High School in North Bend, Ohio. We lived in the adjacent town of Cleves. Dad was an assistant football coach and an assistant track coach. The next school term we moved to the Cincinnati blue collar suburb of Cheviot, though Dad continued to teach at Taylor and we continued to attend the North Bend EUB Church. We lived on Forrest Court, near Harrison and Glenmore Avenues.

That year Dad took me to my first Ohio State football game. They played Wisconsin that day. Both teams were ranked in the national Top Ten and featured Heisman Trophy winners Alan Ameche and Howard Cassady. One of my most cherished life experiences was travelling the back roads of Southern and Central Ohio with Dad, before the construction of I-71, en route Cincinnati to Columbus on Autumn Saturday mornings.

During the 1958-59 school term, Bob Sanders taught Physics at the college preparatory magnet school in Cincinnati, Walnut Hills High School. In 1959 Dad moved to Oak Hills High School, where he taught Chemistry and Physics through the 1961-62 school year. During Dad's tenure at Oak Hills, we moved our church membership from North Bend to Cheviot EUB. Mom and Dad were sponsors of the Senior Youth Fellowship there.

In 1962 Dad started teaching Chemistry and Advanced Placement Chemistry at Finneytown High School, where he continued until his retirement twenty eight years later. At his retirement party he celebrated with former students from every school at which he had taught. During my high school years Dad started working summers as a chemist at the Proctor and Gamble labs in Cincinnati. Previously, he had plied the electrician's trade with a local contractor.

The summer before I left for Ohio State, we moved to Miami Heights, Cleves, OH. It was the first home my parents owned. My sister completed eighth grade at Gamble Jr. High and transferred to Taylor High. Dad was elected to the Three Rivers Board of Education. In 1991 he was president of the school board. He passed away that year. I was awed to see flags at half mast all over the district. After Dad's burial in Mom's family plot in Mount Sterling, we returned to North Bend for the Taylor football game. The team dedicated the game ball to Dad. Robert W. Sanders was a committed teacher who loved his students and went beyond the call of duty in nurturing them. The miracle of him was that he never neglected his own children. We became an integral part of his relationship with his students and grew up with several generations of them.

Dad came to the Lord in the last few months of his life on earth. It's never too late. A man dying on a cross next to Jesus pleaded with Him: "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."

Jesus answered him, "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise." Luke 23:42-43

-- Rob Sanders
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  Death Notes:

Name: Robert W Sanders
Given Name: Robert W
Surname: Sanders
Event Type: Death
Event Date: 16 Sep 1991
Age: 64
Birth Date: 04 Sep 1927

Citing this Record
"United States Social Security Death Index," database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:J2LZ-XNP : 4 December 2020), Robert W Sanders, 16 Sep 1991; citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File, database (Alexandria, Virginia: National Technical Information Service, ongoing).
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  Noted events in his life were:

• He worked as a Science Teacher. ^{1 3}

• He had a residence in Cleves, OH. ¹

• He was educated at Westerville High School in 1945 in Westerville, OH. ^{1 3}

• Military: World War II, US Navy, 1945. ^{1 3}

• He was buried after 16 September 1991 in the Pleasant Cemetery in Mt. Sterling, OH.

Find A Grave Memorial #39408087
. ^{1 3}

Robert married Betty Ruth Busic, daughter of Stanley W. Busic and Elanor Ruth Beale, on an unknown date. (Betty Ruth Busic was born on 1 October 1928 in , Delaware County, OH,⁴ died on 12 July 2012 in Harrison, OH ⁴ and was buried on 16 July 2012 in Mt. Sterling, OH ⁴.)