Poweshiek County >> Other IndexJames Richard Sanders
April 16, 1916 - April 16, 2001 This biography was submitted by Jim Sanders. James Richard Sanders, a resident of Grinnell, Iowa for nearly all of his life, died of an intestinal blood clot on April 16, 2001 at the Grinnell Regional Medical Center. Born on April 16, 1916, on a farm near Montezuma, Iowa Richard was a descendant of Hettie Smith and Henry Sanders, his great-grandparents, both natives of Crawford County, Pennsylvania. Hettie and Henry Sanders resided in Trumbull County, Ohio at the time of their marriage. They moved to Iowa in 1855 and settled in Poweshiek County, near the town of Deep River. In 1858, they moved to Dallas County, Texas where Henry worked in an oil field. He died there two years later in 1860. Hettie then returned to Poweshiek County, traveling by ox cart with her son Charles Jacob Sanders (b. April 30, 1850-d. December 13, 1922) and other children. Charles Jacob Sanders, Richard’s grandfather, returned to Ohio in 1871 at the age of 21. He, too, worked in the oil business and farmed. He married Susan Virginia Campbell on July 4, 1871 in Xenia, Ohio. In 1878, the couple relocated to Poweshiek County, Iowa where Richard’s father, James Franklin Sanders, was born on October 11, 1888, one of 5 children. Although he was just six years old when C.J. died, Richard remembered his grandfather. I would sit on his lap and play with his gold watch, he recalled, and C.J. would say to me: “Ah, Dickie, someday it will be yours.” In the event, his grandfather bequeathed the watch to his son, Richard’s father. When C.J. died, Richard remembered going to the cemetery in Montezuma and watching the stonecutter work on his grandfather’s tombstone with an engraver that ran off the battery in the man’s Buick. Two of Richard’s great-uncles—Franklin and William Sanders, sons of Hettie and Henry—were Civil War veterans. Franklin served with the 10th Iowa Infantry and fought at Vicksburg and with General Sherman on his march through Georgia. William served with the 4th Iowa Infantry and also fought at Vicksburg. Richard’s parents, James Franklin Sanders (b. October 11, 1888-d. January 13, 1947) and Gertrude Wright Sanders (b. June 30, 1889-d. January 2, 1978), farmed in Poweshiek County all of their lives, except for several years during World War II when they resided in Oakland, California where Richard’s father worked in a shipyard. The family experienced difficulty during the Great Depression, living on three different farms, all of which were lost to debt. Richard’s father then moved the family to Grinnell and earned $2.00 a day grading county roads with a team of horses he saved from the last farm he owned—work provided by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Richard graduated from Grinnell High School in 1933. Unable to attend college owing to the financial hardship his family suffered as a result of the Depression, he worked in the dairy business for a number of years, although his inability to attend college left a wound that never healed. In 1935 he worked for Lou Terpstra. That dairy was sold to the Lang family ca. 1936-37. Following a relative West, from 1937 to 1939 he worked at Ferry’s dairy in Mission Valley, California where there were numerous little dairies that sold their products in nearby San Diego. Returning to Grinnell in 1939, he worked both for the Swaney dairy and began learning the construction business under the tutelage of Grant Inman. On November 30, 1941, Richard married Rachel Barns, a schoolteacher and the daughter of Mabel and Frank Barns, a rural mail carrier, at her parents’ home in Grinnell. Following their marriage the couple lived in Preston’s Apartments, across from the present-day First Baptist Church building. The following March, 1942, Richard entered the service, serving as a CM2c (carpenter) in the Tenth U.S. Navy Construction Battalion (Seabees). From October 28, 1942 to September 14, 1943 he saw duty on Johnston Island in the Pacific. His unit had been transported to Hawaii in a Navy transport vessel prior to the unit’s deployment to the Asia-Pacific theater of operations. From Hawaii he wrote to his new wife by V-MAIL that: “I went to Honolulu the other day. It is very much like Calif. The Navy has the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. It is a very beautiful place. Never have seen anything quite so beautiful.” Shortly thereafter he forward deployed to Johnston Island in a private yacht that had been pressed into military service by the Navy. The swells on the open sea were huge, Richard once told his son. Many in his unit became violently seasick and had to be tied to the deck with their belts to prevent them from being washed overboard. Some were so seasick they wanted to die. But for a young man who had grown up on the prairies of Iowa, it was exhilarating, he recalled. The Tenth U.S. Naval Construction Battalion arrived in the Pacific in August 1942. Its personnel occupied outlying outposts, considered at the time to be “front line” positions, from which they constructed military bases. He received an honorable discharged from the Navy on October 5, 1945. His military honors include the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Ribbon. In 1945, Richard was honorably discharged from the Navy and returned to Grinnell where he worked briefly for Verlin Atkins’ dairy. From 1946 to 1949 he worked for Weitz Construction Company, then started his own construction firm instead of taking a promotion that would have meant moving to another city. He and his wife purchased the house at 1411 6th Avenue in 1949, mortgaging their car to raise money for the down payment. Their mothers, both widows by that time, also contributed financially thinking that an apartment was inappropriate for a couple with one small child and another on the way. The house proved to be their lifelong residence where Rachel still lives. Over the course of his career Richard built many houses in Grinnell and several in the nearby town of Brooklyn. In his later years he specialized in remodeling projects, especially kitchens, bathrooms, and additions in Grinnell’s older houses, many of which were constructed in the early 1900s. He often remarked on the cyclical nature of the construction business by saying that at times he had so little work he could hardly get by; at others, more than he could manage. Never incorporating or forming a partnership, he kept his business small-scale. He hired at the most two fulltime employees, kept his construction equipment in the basement of his house until 1969 when he built a large garage, and owned just one car, a station-wagon, which he used for business and pleasure, until 1976 when he purchased another. In this way, he survived over the long term in a small town environment. He appreciated the craftsmanship in many of the town’s old buildings and worked for their preservation. Richard Sanders belonged to a generation of Americans who learned the value of civic engagement as a result of their experiences in the Great Depression and World War II. Richard was a member of the Masonic Lodge in Grinnell, the Royal Arch Masons, and the American Legion. He was a former member of the Rotary Club and the Elks Lodge. As well, he served for a time as the fourth ward committeeman in the local Democratic party, taking a keen interest in both local and national politics. Richard once remarked in looking back on his life that, “I never did anything spectacular because I was too busy trying to survive.” But we know that a generation of Americans accomplished a great deal that was spectacular through their service in World War II and thereafter in their service to the communities to which they returned. They not only saved the world from tyranny at a critical point in history, they also safeguarded the foundations on which our current freedom and prosperity rest. Surviving Richard are his wife, Rachel Barns Sanders of Grinnell; a daughter, Elizabeth Jean Sanders of Cedar Rapids, Iowa; and a son, James Robert Sanders of Falls Church, Virginia. His siblings preceded him in death: Maxine Sanders Clark on September 21, 1977 and his brother Robert Sanders on October 26, 2000.
L. F. Parker’s History
of Poweshiek County, Iowa: a record of settlement, organization, progress
and achievement (Chicago: S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1911), Vol.
II, pp. 202-203 includes a biographical sketch of Charles Jacob Sanders.
This sketch, probably written or dictated by C.J. himself, contains
the only detailed information about his parents, Hettie and Henry yet
found. The History of Poweshiek County, Iowa: containing a history of
the County, its cities, towns &c (Des Moines: Union Historical Co.,
1880) provides a useful overview of Poweshiek county. Charles Jacob
Sanders’ marriage to Susan Virginia Campbell is recorded in the
marriage records of Greene County, Ohio, accessible through the Records
Center and Archives in Xenia, Ohio. Information on Franklin and William
Sanders’ Civil War service was found in the Civil War Research
and Genealogy Database compiled by Historical Data Systems, Inc., of
Kingston, Massachusetts. Obituary notices published in the Grinnell
Herald-Register and death certificates on file at the State of Iowa
Department of Public Health, Bureau of Vital Records are also relevant
documentary sources for Sanders family members named in this sketch.
A copy of C. J. Sanders’ Last Will and Testament is on file at
the Poweshiek County Courthouse in Montezuma, Iowa. Richard Sanders’
military records are on file at the National Personnel Records Center,
Military Personnel Records Division in St. Louis, Missouri. Additional
information was obtained from Richard Sanders’ papers and personal
effects and from interviews with various family members conducted by
his son, James Robert Sanders.
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