J. DENNIS
SANDERS
OBITUARY
February 3, 2002
J. Dennis Sanders, former judge and Hendersonville founder, killed
By Emily Hefftner, Staff Writer
HENDERSONVILLE, TN. - J. Dennis Sanders, a former city judge and one of the city's founders, was struck by a Ford Bronco and killed here Friday night.
Mr. Sanders, who was 68, was crossing West Main Street near the intersection of Rockland Road about 7 p.m. when he was struck. Police said Jimmy Brewer, 31, was driving the Bronco. Police have not charged Brewer with any violations, and the accident is still under investigation.
Mr. Sanders helped incorporate the city in 1969 and drafted the city charter when he served as Hendersonville's first city attorney. Mr. Sanders was a graduate of the Nashville School of Law and served as a Sumner County commissioner, president of the Sumner County Bar Association and president of the Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association during the 1960s and '70s. He was a colonel in the Tennessee Defense Force.
"He was very witty and had a vivacious personality," said Marjorie Miller, a friend of Mr. Sanders'. He "was well-liked by everybody because he was fun to be around."
Mr. Sanders was active in the Democratic Party and practiced law in Hendersonville for more than 30 years. He was born in Paris, Tennessee and lived in Camden and Humboldt before settling in Hendersonville.
Mr. Sanders' son, J. Dennis Sanders Jr. chuckled last night as he remembered how his father sometimes aggravated people. "The world provoked him, O.K.?" he said. He added that his father "was a very kind and very family-oriented person."
Mr. Sanders is survived by his three children, J. Dennis Sanders Jr., Hendersonville and Mark and Lewis Sanders and Pamela Patrica Sanders, both of Nashville, and three grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his wife Betty Hunter Sanders.
Visitation for Mr. Sanders will be 2-4 p.m. and 6-8 p.m. at the Hendersonville location of the Phillips-Robinson Funeral Home. Services will be tommorrow at 11:30 a.m.
'He was a most extraordinary man," said Hendersonville Alderman Mark Skidmore. "I'll miss him as a friend, and he was just an asset to the city of Hendersonville and our county and we will miss him deeply."
Obituary reprinted from the TENNESSEAN, and they retain full rightsİ.
From the scrapebook of TED JENKINS.