Jim Sanders passed away on May 24, 2023.  Jim was born November 16, 1919, in Princeton, Indiana to Corrine and Albert Sanders. He loved to joke that he was a World War I baby boomer. When he was born, his mother lived in a state where, as a woman, she couldn't vote. Jim's father wanted him to be a lawyer and Jim wanted to be an actor, so he enrolled in Washington University in Saint Louis. Jim participated on the university debate team and graduated in 1941 with a B.S. in Jurisprudence. Putting his training to work, Jim took a job as a radio announcer for Radio Station KSOY in Decatur, Illinois, the "Soybean Capital of the World."

On April Fool's Day, 1942, Jim joined the U.S. Army Air Corps. The Corps gave Jim a choice: teletype operator or weather observer. He wasn't any good with machines, so he chose to predict the weather. After training, he was stationed in India at an airbase in the Assam Valley at the foot of the Himalaya being used for the Burma-China "Hump." He received an honorable discharge on December 10, 1945.

Arriving in Flagstaff two months later, Jim enrolled at Arizona State College (today's Northern Arizona University). The college enrolled about 600 students at the time.  He graduated in 1947 with a bachelor's degree in education and that September started teaching English and Social Studies at Flagstaff High School. A few of his notable students were Bruce Babbitt, Dick Wright, Larry Deibel, and Judge Flournoy.

While he was working on his degree, he met a university student named Iola May "Pete" Aston.  She'd grown up in Jerome, the daughter of a miner who sharpened drill steel.  Jim and Pete were both part of the hiking club. Jim recalled that the club used a city dump truck as transportation for a hike to Rainbow Bridge. Club members all piled in the dump bed and off they went. Jim and Pete were married in June. 1946. The couple lived on campus and their "icebox" was an insulated box positioned outside the back door in the shade of the north side of the building. Pete graduated with a B.S. in Education in 1948 and began teaching elementary school children. The young couple bought a home on Navajo Road in Flagstaff in 1950 and never moved again. Jim received a Master's in Education from A.S.C. that same year. From 1958 to 1965, Jim served as Assistant Principal at Flagstaff High School and in 1964 he received another degree in Guidance and Counseling from A.S.C. Jim stayed active as an education specialist for the next 20 years and served four years on the Flagstaff School Board and seven years on the Guidance Center board.

A thoughtful jokester, Jim started the "Church of The Absurd" and was proud of his mention in the book "Who's Who in Hell." He created a fictitious character named Zelmo Zartman.  Zelmo wrote many letters to the Editor of the Arizona Daily Sun, had a lot of money, and wanted to donate to various fundamentalist churches. Those generous donations always seemed to get lost in the mail.

When he was 95, Jim said "I'm living to 100. You know how I know? Just got my driver's license renewed for 5 years." For his 100th birthday, the local Basha's supermarket hosted a birthday party for him.

Jim is survived by his wife Pete, sons David of Flagstaff and Roy (Pam) of San Diego.