William McDonald Sanders

Bill was born in Atlanta to Holden Eugene and Mary Lewis (Newsom) Sanders on February 20, 1961. He was welcomed to the family by his sister Mary Leigh and his brother John.

While growing up, Bill’s family moved around the southern United States frequently due to his father’s employment as a government attorney, finally ending up in Tennessee, where Bill attended high school. He left high school early to pursue a college degree at the University of Tennessee.

Bill began his work in acoustics in 1980 as a co-operative education intern at the ARMCO Steel research facility in Middletown, Ohio, where he worked in the development of non-destructive testing techniques for various materials. After graduating from the University of Tennessee with a B.A. in physics, Bill worked at a small defense contractor in support of the Carderock Division of the Naval Surface Warfare Center’s submarine signature collection effort. From 1984 to 1992 he worked for a defense contractor as a systems engineer in support of other Navy programs (WLR-9 upgrades, the anti-torpedo torpedo, AUV development, as well as several other efforts).

From 1992 to 1998, Bill continued his education full-time and earned his Ph.D. in Applied Marine Physics at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences.

Thereafter, he was a Post-Doctoral Research fellow at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) at Stennis Space Center.

Bill entered federal service in 2000 at NRL in the Acoustics Division, where he conducted research and published several papers on data fusion methods applied to passive acoustic detection networks. In 2006 he transferred to the Marine Geosciences Division at NRL. From then until 2017 he conducted research in parametric sonars, seafloor characterization and acoustic propagation modeling, for which he continued to publish peer-reviewed papers.

In 2017, Bill transferred to the Naval Oceanographic Office, Ocean Products Division, N91 where he participated in oceanographic surveys. He retired in February of 2023.

Bill became a father in 2002 when his daughter, Shiloh Grace Sanders was born. Four years later in 2006, his son, Eli Ray Albertus Sanders was born.

After many years as a single dad, he met Paula June Sanders in 2015. In December of 2016, they were married, and he gained a stepdaughter, Kristen June Garriott.

His family was the most important thing to him. When the children were small, he enjoyed helping them with projects and education activities. He enjoyed watching them grow up. He was so proud of his daughter when she graduated from New Orleans Center for Creative Arts in and when Eli was accepted to Ben Franklin High School.

He could often be found playing Magic: The Gathering and other games with his children, playing Pub Trivia with his family and Trivy’all team and hanging by the pool with the friends on Sunday afternoon. He enjoyed activities such as pickleball, frisbee golf, tennis, bocce ball and hiking. He took German classes at the Deutsches Haus in New Orleans and enjoyed telling “Dad” jokes. He was a member of the Krewe of King Arthur. He loved to travel with his family and enjoyed visiting Alaska, honeymooning in Paris, hiking in Grand Canyon and Yellowstone National Parks and being a kid in Walt Disney World.

He is survived by his wife, Paula (Mullins) Sanders, daughter Shiloh Grace Sanders, son Eli Ray Albertus Sanders and his stepdaughter Kristen June Garriott. He is also survived by his brother John K. Sanders of Arlington, Virginia, and his sister Mary Leigh Sanders of Florence, Texas, as well as his aunt Margaret Ann Waits of Arcadia, Louisiana.

He is also survived by a wealth of friends and family including the Trivy’all Trivia Team and the Sunday Pool Krewe.

He was predeceased by his father, Holden Eugene Sanders and his mother, Mary Lewis Kilmer.

A memorial service will be held October 1, 2023, at 2 p.m. at the Deutsches Haus, 1700 Moss Street, New Orleans. Bill loved that his friends had varied interests, so in lieu of flowers, please donate to your favorite cause.