Saunders services

Mr. Saunders died Saturday, Oct. 2, 2004, at his home after a long battle with cancer.

He was born June 22, 1948, in Lawrence, the son of Phillip and Mabel E. Hertzler Saunders.

He graduated from Lawrence High School in 1966. He received a bachelor’s degree in biology from Pittsburg State University, where he attended on academic and football scholarships. He played guard on the 1970 Pittsburg State national championship football team.

Mr. Saunders began teaching biology, physical and life sciences, and health in 1975 at Central Junior High School. He also was a coach for the school’s Science Olympiad team.

Mr. Saunders became a longtime coach of football, wrestling and track. He also was a sideline official for LHS varsity football games.

He was a member of the Lakeview Hunting and Fishing Assn. and the Lawrence chapter of Quail Unlimited.

Mr. Saunders, who was a Boy Scout himself, was a longtime leader for Troop 55 as well as a member of the Pelathe District scout leader training team, and received the Award of Merit. As a Boy Scout he was elected into the Order of the Arrow and achieved the rank of Life Scout. As an adult he became an honorary member of the Tribe of Micosay.

After being diagnosed with renal cancer in November 1998 and which then spread to his kidneys, Mr. Saunders became one of a handful of patients in 2000 to enter an experimental stem-cell transplant and research program at the National Institutes of Health.

He married Lynn Corn, in April 1979, in Lawrence. She survives, of the home.

Other survivors include a son, Loren P. Saunders, Mission; a sister, Martha Skeet, Lawrence; three nephews and one niece.