Arthur Leroy Sanford

Arthur Leroy Sanford
Born: November 19, 1921 in Atlanta, GA
Died: June 28, 2017 in Port Orchard, WA

Survived by: His wife of 72 years, Betty Jean Soule Sanford; his daughter, Nancy Elizabeth Sanford Hintz (husband Robert, dec.) of Charlotte, NC; son Richard Earle Sanford, Hemet, CA (dec. 2012), son Dennis Sanford (wife Ginger) of Port Angeles, WA: son Patrick Sanford (wife Kristi Nilson) of Seattle, WA: 14 grandkids, and 17 great grandkids.

Art also had three older siblings who passed before him; Ralph, Doris, and Marie.

Art Sanford lost his mother before he was a year old. At various times, he lived with his grandparents or his father and stepmother, but mostly Art was raised by his aunts especially his Aunt Belle.

Places he called home at during his life: Atlanta, GA; Port Orchard, WA; Manchester, WA; Juneau, AK; Ketchikan, AK, Vashon Island, WA; Anchorage, AK, Colorado Springs, CO

Early work history: In his youth he worked for a dental lab as a courier, was the manager of a Krystal Hamburger restaurant in Atlanta, managed a pool hall in Port Orchard, and moonlighted at a produce warehouse in downtown Seattle while working at the Federal Office Building.

Military/Civil Service Career: Lied about his age and joined the National Guard at age 15 in 1936. Moved to Port Orchard in 1944 and began working at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. Enlisted in Army in 1945 where he served until 1966, retiring as a Sergeant, First Class. Worked another 14 years of civil service at PSNS, Bangor and Keyport before full retirement in 1980.

Art, like many of his generation, had lots of stories about life during the Depression; roller-skating, the price of a loaf of bread, the haves and the have-nots in his neighborhood. Art was proud of the fact that in his youth he was a champion standing broad jumper. As small as he was, he had springs!

At age 15 Art joined the National Guard. During that time he needed an appendectomy while on maneuvers in Mississippi. He spent the rest of maneuvers in a hospital room in Biloxi with a view of the Gulf and pretty nurses attending to him.

Art’s daughter, Nancy Elizabeth, was born in 1943 in Atlanta. The relationship with Nancy’s mother didn’t last and Art moved to Port Orchard and started to work at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. Art brought Nancy to join him (and Betty) in the northwest at a later date.

Also working at PSNS during the war was 19 year-old Betty Soule. Betty’s family had moved to Port Orchard from Minnesota during the war. They began to court and were married March 13, 1945, a marriage that would last for 72 years.

Betty’s family was much different than what Art had come from. Betty’s parents, Earle and Marie, had 10 children and many, many grandchildren. Art enjoyed spending time with each of them and their families.

After Art enlisted in the Army in 1945, Art and Betty made their home in a little stone cottage in Manchester, WA. Their first son, Richard Earle, was born in Bremerton in July of 1946.

By good fortune, the Army assigned Art to ACS, the Alaska Communications System. Basically, ACS was the phone company for the frontier territory (not yet a state) of Alaska. Art and Betty’s 15 years in Alaska, and the friends they made there, are the perhaps the most treasured of their lives. In particular, their best friends, Ed and Inie Nichols, who later made their home on Vashon Island. The couples traded visits, and laughs, on a regular basis for more than nearly 60 years.

While serving in Alaska, son Dennis Alan was born in Juneau in 1951, and son Patrick Shane was born in Ketchikan in 1955.

One of the family’s most vivid memories is of the Good Friday Earthquake in 1964. The family was fortunate to escape injury or significant damage but the experience of enduring one of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded was a topic of Art’s his entire life. Shortly thereafter, Art was sent to Fort Carson, near Colorado Springs, CO, where he finished his Army career.

After retiring in 1966, Art, Betty, and family moved back to Port Orchard to be closer to Betty’s family. Several trips were made over the years to visit Art’s family back in Atlanta.

There were three men in Art’s life that he was particularly fond of and admired greatly; his brother-in-law H.L. Winkle (husband to sister, Marie); his father-in-law, Earle Soule; and his best friend, Edwin Nichols. Each of them had a profound impact on him.

As one of Art’s granddaughters said, “he was always a handful” but many of his children and grandchildren give him credit for their quick-witted sarcasm. He was a master of the one-liner, the zinger, and he enjoyed his jokes and people who joked with him.

He was a tease who would sing to his grandchildren, “Looky here (insert kid’s name here) dontcha get mad but you look like somethin’ that the buzzards had”. Or another favorite was “(insert name here) I been thinkin’, what could keep your feet from stinkin’.” Before the kids understood this was Grandpa’s way of playing, the song might send them running off crying. Today, it’s just another funny memory of their grandpa.

Other Art humor
- Told his grandkids that he had two pairs of eyeglasses. One for kids and slugs, and the other for nice occasions.
- In the grocery store Art instructed his young grandson to go get some Breyers ice cream, When the grandson returned with the ice cream, Art told him, “Not Breyers, get Dreyers ice cream.” So back goes the grandson. When he returns with the Dreyers his grandpa says, “Not Dreyers. I meant Breyers.” And so on…
- While living in Colorado, Art was driving behind a horse trailer with two horses in it. He asked Betty to take a picture of the two horses behinds. Art then sent this picture to several friends and relatives with the caption, “Saw this and thought of you.”
- Once while driving in Manitou Springs, Colorado the car stalled on a busy street and wouldn’t restart. An impatient driver behind Art started honking his horn. An instantly hot Art, flung open his door, and started to jump out of the car to have a few words with the jerk behind him. He was instantly stopped by his seatbelt. Settling back into the car, Art remarked, “I guess there’s more than one way a seatbelt can save your life.”

Art was very active his entire life, and he didn’t let old age slow him down, at least not willingly. Well into his 80’s, Art was cutting his own firewood for their home and he also jogged into his late 80’s. As a matter of fact, later in life he was much more comfortable jogging than he was walking. When he and Betty took one of their many trips to Reno, it was not unusual for him to jog to the gate rather than walk with Betty. Another time, also in his 80’s, he jogged the mile to the local fire station to get a fire permit, and then jogged the mile back. When he got home he collapsed outside the house, laid there for a bit, pulled himself up holding onto the back of his truck, and casually walked into the house. Told us it was no big deal. Just overdid it a bit.

When building their house up in the woods in 1975, he swore that he would put a pool table in the house before he put in a bed. It didn’t quite happen that way but he did have a beautiful custom table in the family room almost immediately. Family and friends spent hours enjoying that table and Art was always happy to offer advice about a particular shot (whether you asked for it or not but since he was quite a good player you were well advised to take his advice). He also enjoyed setting up trick shots for anyone to try.

Other activities Art enjoyed in his life were fishing (he once caught a 64 pound salmon in a derby in Alaska… and came in second place!), bowling (he and Betty were both solid league bowlers, Art came within one strike of bowling the first sanctioned 300 game in Alaska history), playing poker (once brought home a .30-06 rifle as part of his winnings), gardening, picking fruit for jam, and traveling.

Aside from his family, there is nothing Art loved more than animals. Art and Betty had numerous pets through the years and loved telling stories about all of them. To lose one was a heartbreaking moment. They even took care of their neighbors’ dogs. Many times over the years we would find the neighbor dogs happily stretched out on their floor. Life at Art’s house was good. Even to his last days Art enjoyed it when the neighbor’s chickens would wander over so he could feed them. And then they would try to follow him into the house.

There was nothing in this life as important to Art as his family. And the foundation of that family was his 72-year marriage to Betty. In 2005, the family put together a 60th wedding anniversary party, in spite of rather strong objections from Art. Friends and relatives came from across the country. Emotionally, it was almost too much for Art to handle because it compressed so many years, so many experiences, and so many people he loved into a single night. Appropriately, the party was held in an old military building at Fort Worden in Port Townsend. After dinner and a video with images of his life with Betty, his favorite song played. It was “Wheel of Fortune” sung by Kay Starr. He broke down but you know it was because he was so happy, so proud, and feeling so fortunate that the wheel of fortune came up a winner for a kid from Atlanta.

Rest in Peace, Art… husband, father, friend, soldier, and jokester. And thanks for the many stories we’ll tell.