Vernon Clayton SandersOctober 2, 1921 ~ December 9, 2009 Vernon Clayton Sanders, 88, of Waco passed away at his home on Wednesday, December 9, 2009. Services will be 10 a.m., Saturday, December 12, 2009 at Connally/Compton Funeral Directors Chapel with the Rev. Carrol Hambrick officiating. Burial will follow at Waco Memorial Park. Visitation with family and friends will be 5 to 7 p.m., Friday, December 10, at Connally/Compton Funeral Directors. Vernon Clayton was born on October 2, 1921 in Thomasville, Tennessee to the late Ethel Elizabeth Nicholson and Thomas Jefferson Sanders. Vernon served our country in the U.S. Army during WWII where he received an American service medal, WWII Victory medal and a good conduct medal. After being discharged, he moved to Waco in 1946 where he married the love of his life, Eva Koether. They both became members of Beverly Hills Baptist Church. Eva and Clayton were inseparable ~ whether they were sitting in their season ticket holder seats at a Baylor Bear basketball game, working outdoors, raising their cows and horses on the farm or traveling Texas to Country Music Jamborees. In 1984 he retired from General Tire. Also preceding him in death was his brother, Larry Sanders in 1961. Left behind to cherish his memory are his wife of 63 years, Eva Sanders of Waco; daughters, Carolyn and husband, Thomas Hammons of Woodlawn, TN and Alice and husband, Marcos Martinez of Garland, TX; grandchildren, Thomas Lee Hammons and wife, Arianne, John Hammons and wife, Jennifer, Christy Hammons, and Nicholas and Alannah Martinez; great-grandchildren, Christopher, Jennifer and Jacob Hammons; four brothers, Woodrow, Dale and wife, Lucille, Jesse and Billy and wife, JoAnn; sisters, Grace and husband, Charles Oakley and Helen and husband, Doug Douglas; and numerous nieces and nephews. Pallbearers will be John, lee and Thomas Hammons, Marcos and Nicholas Martinez and Jim Sanders. Honorary pallbearer is Charles Schaefer.