James Sanford

Services for James Sanford will be in the chapel at Criswell Funeral Home in Ada, Oklahoma on Thursday, April 20, 2017 at 2 p.m. Mr. Del Tollett will conduct the service. Burial will be in Holdenville, Oklahoma Cemetery following the service. James Joseph Sanford went home to be with our Lord on Monday, April 17, 2017. James was born in Non, Oklahoma in 1927 to Joseph Jefferson Sanford & Grace Jones Sanford. He grew-up in Oklahoma, except for a couple of years he lived in California during World War II where he worked in the Kaiser Shipyard during the day and continued high school at night. He returned to Holdenville, Oklahoma near the end of the war and graduated from Holdenville High School. Most of his school friends knew him as Junior. James worked in retail and worked his way up to a store manager for McLellan's Variety, Gibson Discount, and Howard's Discount. He also owned and managed a Sears Catalog store for a few years. Since he didn't know how not to work, at the age of 65 he went to work for Wal-Mart and worked for them in Oklahoma, Louisiana, New York and Arkansas. He finally retired at the age of 85 when his health began to fail. He was married to Helen Tollett in 1946. They had 70 years together. James became a member of the Free Will Baptist Church at the age of 19 and became a Deacon in May 1959. He was a founding member of the West Ridge Free Will Baptist Church in Fayetteville, Arkansas. James is survived by his wife, Helen, of the home; a son, Lieutenant Colonel (ret) Kevin L. Sanford, daughter-in-law, Valerie J. Sanford of Louisiana; granddaughter, Valerie Jean Sanford and great-grandson, Collin Jakob Manley of New York; sister, Wilma Taylor and niece, Jana Dupree & husband Nelson Dupree of Arkansas; cousins, Kenneth Sanford of Oklahoma, Orvil Sanford of California and Alma Lee Halstead of Georgia. In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to the Heart or Alzheimer's Fund or the Willard Walker Hospice House in Fayetteville, Arkansas.