CENTRALIA — Robert Eugene Sanders passed in the company of his loving family at his home on Tuesday, March 21, 2023. He suffered a serious illness that lasted several weeks.

He was born on March 17, 1947, to Alice B. (Shelton) Sanders and Robert Warren Sanders that preceded him in death. He attended the Jackson School of the Blind in Jacksonville, and he later graduated from Centralia High School in 1968, where he was a wrestler on the Orphans’ team. On March 30, 1968, he married his high school sweetheart, Marilyn K. Phillips and she survives him. He worked for Hollywood Candy company until the plant burned down in 1980. He was disabled.

He was a loving father to his two children that survive him, Marsha Wilson, and Timothy Sanders and wife Rosa.

He was preceded in death by his brother, Timothy Sanders, his sister, Sally Yarbrough and his parents.

He is further survived by his siblings, Steve Sanders and his wife Pam; Patti Macdonald and her husband Arti, and family; Cindy Tyson and her family; Pamela Bell and her husband Fred and family; grandchildren, Charles and Roberta Wilson, Sarah Ross, Matthew Edward Sanders, and his mother Tracy Sanders.

He was a loving father and husband of almost fifty-five years, and he loved trains, Jeopardy, and politics. He was a registered Republican that loved to talk about issues of the day with anyone around him. He was a member of Temple Baptist Church. He was devout in his belief in God.

A celebration of life service will be held at 10:30 a.m. Friday, March 24, 2023, at the Irvin Macz Funeral Home in Centralia with Pastor Ronnie Tabor officiating. Interment will follow at Gilead Cemetery in Centralia. Relatives and friends are welcome to a visitation time from 9:30 a.m. until the time of the service on Friday at the funeral home in Centralia. Memorials may be made in Robert’s honor to The American Diabetes Association. Online condolences and memories of Robert may be shared with the family by visiting maczfuneralhomes.com and/or on the funeral home’s Facebook page.