NORMAN DELANE “BUDDY” SANDERS

1928-2019

Norman Delane Sanders of Houston, Texas, passed away in Wimberly, Texas on 3 February 2019.

Norman was aptly nicknamed to family and friends as “Buddy”, and he was indeed a “buddy” to everyone who knew him.

Buddy was preceded in death by his parents, Vlasta and Sherman Sanders, and by his younger brother, Sherman Fouts Sanders, Jr. He is survived by his wife, Patricia Lomax Sanders of Houston; his sister, Ione White of Conroe; his three sons Norman Jr. (Sandy), Douglas, Craig and their spouses; six grandchildren; and five greatgrandchildren.

Buddy and his father were descended from Revolutionary War veteran George Fluker of Virginia, and were members of the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR).

Buddy grew up in Houston and attended Milby and Reagan High Schools. He was drafted to serve in WWII and quit his job and sold his car – but the War ended the day before he was to report to duty!

Buddy was a mechanical genius. There was never a piece of machinery that he could not take apart and reassemble better than new. His family and a wide circle of friends benefited for decades from his skills.

He began his working life at Cameron Iron Works, and then moved to Gray Tool Company. He began by operating machine tools, but aptitude and hard work led to his rising through the ranks to management. In 1968 he was sent, with his family, to Douglas, Scotland, where he set up a manufacturing plant serving the North Sea oil fields. In later years he traveled to Asia, Africa, Europe and other locales to backstop Gray Tool and TESCO.

In 1974 Buddy and Pat bought the “Lake 20” on Lake LBJ, which three generations of friends and family knew as the nucleus of a rare circle of people with shared memories of growing up, and old, together.

The family offers thanks to the friends and staff of the Deer Creek facility and Bluebonnet Palliative Care for the loving and attentive care they provided Buddy.