Clifton Sanders

A graveside service with full military honors will be held at 11:00 a.m., Thursday, June 17, 2010 at Tired Creek Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery (Tired Creek Road off Hwy 111) in Grady County, Georgia. Dr. Clifton Henry Sanders, 89, passed away Sunday, June 13, 2010 at his home in Tallahassee, Florida. He was born January 15, 1921, in Bainbridge, GA, to the late Lilla M. Harrison Sanders and Henry A. Sanders. He graduated from Bainbridge High School in 1938. Clifton served in the U.S. Army during WWII, Company "C" , 82nd Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 2nd Armored Division from March 1941 - July 1945. He attained the rank of Sergeant and was a Purple Heart recipient. He used the G.I. Bill to attend Emory at Oxford, and graduated from the University of Illinois with a doctorate degree in Optometry. He was a member of the Phi Theta Upsilon Fraternity and Tomb and Key Honor Fraternity. He practiced optometry in Macon, GA and Augusta, GA. Clifton later moved to Tallahassee, FL where he worked for almost 20 years as an engineer in final estimates for the Florida Department of Transportation until retiring. He was a modest but multitalented person, an avid golfer, and in later years, enjoyed his daily walks with Pebbles in the Miccosukee Greenway. Clifton is survived by his wife, Augusta W. Sanders, his daughter, Valeria A. Sanders, a brother, Carol Wheat (C.W.) Sanders, and many relatives in south Georgia and north Florida. He was preceded in death by two brothers, Marion Thomas and Benny Jackson, four sisters, Mavy Melvina, Lilla Bryna, Celia Ann, Carolyn Elizabeth and an infant sister Lillian.