Passion for children drove Red Sanders
Apr 17, 2018G. “Red” Sanders had for LaRue County and its school system only was rivaled by the district’s students.Everett Glennie Sanders, who spent 24 years as the district’s superintendent, died Monday. He was 92.In an education career that spanned more than four decades and also included positions as a teacher, coach and principal, Sanders drew his greatest satisfaction from helping students, his two sons said.“He told me his dream job was as a high school principal,” said Ron Sanders, president of Magnolia Bank. “He said, ‘I enjoyed it the most because I was with the kids every day.’“He would go to football, basketball and baseball practice because he wanted to be around the kids,” he added.Sam Sanders, current LaRue County superintendent, said his father had a mission to improve the lives of students.“He wanted to help as many students who walked through the halls as possible,” Sam said.He said it was common for his father — years after he retired as superintendent in 1991 — to go to Western Kentucky University, from which he graduated, to try and help LaRue County High School students obtain scholarship money.Sam said his father would take several students each year to try and help them academically.“He did that until he was 80,” Sam said.Sanders’ sons recalled several stories of their father reaching out to students by taking them into their home — including one who had polio — or making sure they had what was needed to graduate.Ron said it was required for students to wear a white shirt underneath their graduation gowns to take part in graduation ceremonies. A girl came up to their father and told him she didn’t have money for a shirt and neither did her family.“He told her to get in the car and he took her downtown to get her a shirt,” Ron said. “He just wanted to help kids.”Sanders, who graduated in 1943 from Upton High School and was senior class valedictorian, joined the U.S. Navy after graduation and was active until the end of World War II.After graduating in 1950 from then-Western Kentucky State College, he became head basketball coach ... (Elizabethtown News Enterprise)
