Crow’s Feet Says Goodbye to Its Most Senior Writer

He wrote essays from his assisted living residence.

James Frank Sanders passed away on June 1st at age 97, just six weeks after he penned his final, personal essay, one of dozens he published in Crow’s Feet over the past two years. He will be missed, as will his short, insightful stories about life in his late 90s and the characters around him in the assisted living facility he called home.

Carole Olsen, a Crow’s Feet writer, and editor, says that James was an inspiration to all who knew him.

“I crossed paths on Medium with James Frank Sanders within a month of coming on Medium after reading an article by Maria Rattray about this remarkable 95-year-old man,” Carole said.

“I admired this nonagenarian and looked forward to his articles that gave me hints about living healthier and longer.”

Carole wrote an essay praising the man entitled James Frank Sanders Has Taught Me A Lot About Life, and she recalls how Sanders wrote about the death of his love, Del Ward, whom he lost in August of 2021. He used Ralph Waldo Emerson’s quote to help him through this very sad time.

“Don’t hold onto your pain and wait for it to work through. Instead, get up and do something.”

James was a doer, and in addition to writing on Medium, he wrote a book under the name of Jim Sanders entitled Make Your Senior Years Your Best which can be purchased on Amazon.

His last article on Crow’s Feet, Be Sure to Thank Someone You Love, was dated April 21, 2023. In it, he wrote of a new man at his assisted living facility who regretted not telling his wife how valuable she was to him before she passed.

James wrote how his son Scott had done so much for him recently, taking him to eye appointments and during his 51-day stay in the hospital due to Covid-19. James said he wanted to make a point to thank him. Scott was at his side when his father died.

Carole received an email from another of James’s sons, David, who wrote about his father’s final days:

“Day and night, we spent time laughing, telling stories, and talking about some experiences of his life that he had never shared. A continual flood of friends was always paying him visits. He was loved and had an outsized impact on his community. I will treasure this wonderful and intimate gift of time with my dad.”

When Carole thinks of James passing, she says, “I am sure he and Del are sitting on a front porch in the heavens and catching up on their time apart.”

Postscript By Carole Olsen

As you can see, there was another story written by James Sanders published yesterday. At first, I was shocked when I saw it, but after contacting his son, David, he said he submitted it after finding an appropriate picture of a butterfly that his dad requested before his death.