James William Anderson's Obituary
James William Anderson passed away on Friday, December 22nd peacefully at the age of eighty-five. He was born in Cape Girardeau, MO but his family soon moved to Memphis, TN. At age thirteen his first job was delivering newspapers on his bicycle to help support his family. This started a life-long strong work ethic he passed down to his children and grandchildren. Jim graduated from Tech High School in 1951 where he was Junior and Senior Class President. He formed lifelong friendships with many of his fellow students and hosted many of their class reunions at his home in Germantown. They still continue to meet. Next, Jim attended Memphis State University and graduated with a degree in Liberal Arts in 1956. Immediately following that he served in the U.S. Army from 1956-1958 where he earned his jump wings as part of the 82nd Airborne. As a college graduate, he taught World War II Veterans by helping them obtain their GED. This combination of jumping out of airplanes and education led to his future professions. Many years later while working full-time and raising a family he earned a Master’s Degree from Memphis State University in Education Administration. In 1958 he spent the first of five summers working for the U.S. Forest Service as a Smoke Jumper in Montana. He made over fifty jumps fighting fires in rural areas. He always remembered fondly that period of his life. He returned to Montana many times for reunions and also performed volunteer trail maintenance work in with the Forest Service in remote areas of Montana until he was nearly eighty years old. In 1959 he married Shirley Snider and they remained together for the rest of his life and had four children together. He worked for the Shelby County School System for thirty-eight years beginning in 1959. He served first as a teacher at Oakhaven High School for five years teaching History. After that he moved into Administration where over the years he worked his way up the ranks. In 1985 he was appointed Superintendent of the school system where he served for twelve years until his retirement at age sixty-five in April, 1997. During this time he served with distinction over tremendous growth of the system. He was known as a “firm but fair” administrator earning the respect and admiration of his staff. In retirement Jim enjoyed spending time with his family, golfing, fishing, and traveling. For several years he volunteered with the FedEx/St. Jude Golf Tournament and also volunteered feeding the homeless in downtown Memphis serving his community. In 2014 Jim and Shirley moved into the Kirby Pines Retirement Community. Jim was loved by all there with his pleasant disposition and warm smile. The family would like to express their warm thanks to the Kirby Pines staff for their tender, loving care. Jim is preceded in death by his parents Thelma Anderson and Clarence William Anderson, his sister Betty Edwards, and his brother Charles Anderson. He leaves his loving wife of over fifty-eight years, Shirley. He also leaves his four children Leslie Mayfield (Daryl), Tracy Depperschmidt (Mark), Jim Anderson, and William “Tim” Anderson. He had four grandchildren, Lindsey Teders (Johnie), Kelly Depperschmidt, Lauren Mayfield Pica (Tyler), and Katie Depperschmidt. Lastly, he proudly lived to become a great-grandfather to Kenley Teders. Visitation will be at Memorial Park Funeral home on Thursday, December 28 from 5:00-8:00 p.m. with the funeral to be held Friday, December 29 at 1:00 p.m. All services will be held at Memorial Park.
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