Extracted from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Atlanta, GA)
Tuesday, April 22, 2003

Wilbur Hale Sanders

During the 1960s, Bill Sanders was General Services Administration chief for the Southeast. Based in Atlanta, he was in charge of nearly all federal office space for this part of the country. That meant oversight of building upkeep, of new construction, of supplying official cars, office equipment, even paper clips.

In 1969 he was reassigned to Washington, eventually becoming commissioner of public buildings,with the same duties as in Atlanta, only the area he supervised was nationwide.

``Bill was a hands-on administrator,'' said his colleague Jim Smith of Decatur. ``Some people at that level just sit in their offices and jaw with politicians, not Bill. He was always going out and checking on the projects that were his ultimate responsibility.''

The funeral for Wilbur Hale Sanders, 84, of Atlanta is 11 a.m. Wednesday at Peachtree Christian Church. He died Sunday from complications of Alzheimer's disease at A.G. Rhodes nursing home, Marietta. H.M. Patterson & Son, Spring Hill, is in charge of arrangements.

Retiring from government service in 1972, Mr. Sanders was property manager at Peachtree Center the next five years. He was interim business manager at Peachtree Christian Church, once in the 1970s and again in the 1980s.

``He had great organizational skills, which he also applied as chairman of our Official Board of Elders,'' said the Rev. Jim Collins, Peachtree Christian's senior pastor.

``He expected accuracy in reports to the church board and an open, well-informed discussion before arriving at a decision,'' the Rev. Collins said. ``These are wonderful qualities in a leader.''

``He taught volunteers here the way to witness their faith was to fulfill completely their commitments to service. For years he'd make periodic trips to a downtown homeless shelter, one of several people from our church who would stay all night, give the men there a meal and a cot, perhaps some counseling, then clean up in the morning.''

``Bill served the homeless not for any sentimental or feel-good reasons, but simply because those poor men were in need,'' the Rev. Collins said.

Mr. Sanders answered to a number of names, said his daughter, Alva McGovern of Atlanta. ``I called him Dad,'' she said, ``and the grandkids called him Papa. At work he was known as Bill, at church as Wilbur or Will, and at home Mother called him Willie.'' His wife, Billie, died in 1994.

Survivors include two sons, Hale Sanders of Marietta and Wendell ``Doc'' Sanders of Jacksonville; a sister, Rosemary Baldridge of Shreveport, La.; a brother, Will Ed Sanders of Minden, La.; six grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.