On Saturday, January 12, 2019, William Baxter Sanders, loving husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, completed his life on earth surrounded by his family at the age of 80 at his home at Inverness Village in Tulsa.

Funeral service will be 2 p.m., Wednesday, January 16, at Sand Springs Church of Christ. Baxter will be laid to rest at Woodland Memorial Park. Visitation will be held at the funeral home Monday 1-8 p.m., and Tuesday 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Family will greet friends Tuesday 4-6 p.m.

Baxter was born March 5, 1938, in Wetumka, OK, the fourth child born to Albert and Leola Sanders. He grew up and attended school in Sand Springs, OK, and married his sweetheart Linda Ivy on June 16, 1956, in Tulsa. They raised four children, Cathy, Terri, Bill, and Diane in Mannford, Oklahoma, and lived there over forty years. He and his family worshipped and served at the Mannford Church of Christ.

In his early years, Baxter worked at North American Rockwell as a dispatcher. When his brother Albert opened a furniture store, he went to work with him as a salesman at Al’s Midway in Tulsa, and he later worked for Reeves Furniture and Appliance and Dean’s RV Sales. Baxter excelled in his distinguished sales career, winning numerous awards and honors. After retiring, he began a new career as a cross-country pipeline inspector. In each of his professions, Baxter was respected and appreciated for his dedication and diligence.

Baxter’s hobbies included golfing, woodworking, and coaching little league baseball and fast-pitch girls’ softball. He proudly took the 10 and under boys to state and won first place. Traveling in their RV with friends and ballroom dancing with Linda for four decades were among his favorite pastimes. He made his wife and all his girls feel like princesses when he whirled them around the dance floor. He especially enjoyed getting to take Linda to Paris and Switzerland. What Baxter loved most was spending time with his family, grilling in the backyard or camping at the lake. No matter what he was doing, it always included lots of laughter.

William Baxter Sanders was a man who loved his family fiercely and taught by example how to live a life of character. He had a quick wit, firm discipline, and meticulous dedication to task. His children witnessed him love and respect their mother for sixty-two years. He taught them about Christ from an early age, prayed with them, and read the Bible to them. He showed them how to work hard at whatever they did, treat others with respect, and approach much of life with humor. His tremendous and quiet influence is clearly displayed in the lives of his pride and joy, his grandchildren.

Loved ones that will miss him dearly until they meet again are his wife Linda, of Tulsa, his daughter Cathy and husband Kenny Wells of Houston, TX, daughter Terri Tyson of Bentonville, AR, son William Baxter Sanders, Jr. and wife Kelly of Oklahoma City, daughter Diane and husband Larry Haney of Tulsa, sister Peggy McDaniel, brother Ben Sanders, and his eight grandchildren, Jeremy Wells, Rachel Cannon, Lacy Cunningham, Brandon Tyson, Kristin Kuhlow, Myah Sanders, Blake Haney, and Abby Harris, and their spouses, his twelve great grandchildren, Victoria, Ethyn, Kendyl, Dalton, Lauren, Millie, Oliver, Sydney, August, Eliot, Sawyer, and Parker, plus numerous nieces and nephews.

Loved ones that preceded him in death are his parents, Albert and Leola Sanders, his brother Albert Lee Sanders, his infant grandson Toby Daniel Wells, niece Vicky McDaniel, and nephew Rick Sanders.

A special thank you to the compassionate staff at Inverness Village and Grace Hospice. Memorial contributions may be made in his name to Inverness Village Benevolent Fund in Tulsa.

Leave your memories of Baxter and view his tribute online at www.mogro.co.

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