Robert Sanders
Aug. 4, 1949-March 30, 2022
Robert James “Bob”
Sanders was born August
4, 1949, in Fort Ord Cali-
fornia to James Forrest
Sanders and Lillian
Louise (Demuth) Sanders.
He died March 30, 2022,
in West Fargo North
Dakota.
For the first 7 years of
his life Bob moved fre-
quently due to his father’s
Army assignments and
deployments. In 1956 the
family settled in Tacoma
Washington with his fa-
thers’ final Army assign-
ment at Fort Lewis. Bob
went to school in the
Clover Park district and
ultimately graduated from
Clover Park High School
in 1967. During his senior
year Bob joined the U. S.
Naval Reserve, so im-
mediately upon gradua-
tion he went to boot camp
in San Diego California.
Bob went on active duty
in the U. S. Navy in Janu-
ary 1968, serving first on
the USS Marshall DD-676,
the reserve training ship
home ported in Tacoma
Washington, then, after
his promotion to Radio-
man 3rd Class he was
transferred to the USS
Cochrane DDG-21 home
ported in Pearl Harbor
Hawaii for its 1969 West-
pac cruise to Viet Nam
and surrounding areas.
After returning from the
Navy, Bob went to work
for the State of Washing-
ton in Olympia, first as a
teletype operator for the
Department of Motor
Vehicles, then as a Com-
munications Officer for
the Washington State Pa-
trol. After 11 years as a
WSP Comm Officer Bob
transferred to the position
of Data Communication
Technician and finally
System Administrator for
the Washington State Pa-
trol. Bob retired from the
state Patrol in June 1998.
With 2 failed marriages
in his past, Bob met his
soulmate in 1986. He and
Kathy E. Tuff Paulson
were together for 34 years
before finally tying the
knot in August 2020.
They moved to West Far-
go ND that same month.
Bob enjoyed woodwork-
ing in his basement shop
in Olympia, working with
computers during the
DOS and early Windows
days, and, later in life,
genealogy where he found
many cousins and ances-
tors he had not previously
known. Bob was a Life
Member of the VFW, West
Fargo Post 7564.
Bob is survived by his
wife Kathy and stepchil-
dren Nikki Footh (Paul) of
Grays River Washington
and Ryan Nielsen (Tara)
of Fort Bragg NC and
grandchildren Haley and
Hannah Footh and Skylar
and Autumn Nielsen. He
is also survived by a sis-
ter, Shari Blackett (Don)
of Washougal, WA. He is
predeceased by his
parents.
Cremation has occurred
and Bob will be buried at
the North Dakota
Veteran’s Cemetery near
Mandan ND this spring.
West Funeral Home &
Life Tribute Center
westfuneralhome.com