Ret.) Lt. Col. Sidney Sanders, 91, of Kearney died Sunday, August 28, 2016 at Ravenna Good Samaritan Center in Ravenna.

Services will be Thursday, September 1, 2016 at 2:00 p.m. at Horner Lieske McBride & Kuhl Funeral and Cremation Services in Kearney. Pastor Dean Pofahl will officiate and burial will follow at Kearney Cemetery. Military rites will be provided at graveside. There will be no Visitation. Horner Lieske McBride and Kuhl Funeral Home of Kearney is in charge of arrangements.

Sidney was born on March 6, 1925 in Paterson, New Jersey to Charles and Sylvia (Cohen) Sanders. He married Carol Marie Gard on July 28, 1950 in Denver, CO. Sidney joined the US Army Reserves at the age of 18 in 1943. After training, he immediately shipped off to the European theater of war where he was attached to the 8th Air Force in England and in Luxembourg, Germany, as a ground aircraft observer getting many German fighter planes and fighter-bombers to meet their early demise. He remained in the service and as a young Second Lieutenant in the Korean conflict, earning the Bronze Star with Valor and Oak Leaf Cluster for his actions in the last battle for Pork Chop Hill. His next duty assignment was as part of the American occupation force in Japan in 1949 thru 1950. Upon his return to the US, he was fortunate to meet the ‘love of his life’, a pretty young Kearney, Nebraska girl, Carol Gard. They were married almost immediately in 1950 and shared a long and adventurous life together in many duty posts overseas and throughout the United States. Some of his other duty assignments in the US after Japan included: posts in Oberammergau and Wurzburg, Germany; Aberdeen Proving Grounds, MD; in Ft McClellan, AL where he served as a Chemical Corps training officer in 1965, training men in escape and evasion techniques who would soon be shipping off to the Vietnam conflict. In his final post, he served as the Post Commander of Rocky Mountain Arsenal in Denver, CO. Sidney retired in Denver as a Lt. Colonel in 1968. Some of the medals he earned in addition to the Bronze Star were the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, Armed Forces Service Medal and the Army Commendation Medal. The men under Sidney’s command and the officers with whom he served held him in the highest regard due to his devotion to them and the service. Sidney started his second career as the Safety Officer for the Office of Administration and Safety for the US Treasury Department in Washington, DC. In his tenure at the Treasury Department for eighteen years, he was privileged to work closely with the department of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the Secret Service and had written many speeches for the Secretary of the Treasury. Upon retiring from Treasury in 1984, he and his wife Carol decided to retire to Kearney, Nebraska. Sidney was a great lover of animals and devoted to the Kearney community. He also enjoyed life there devoting many hours to restoration of the former US Post Office into what is today the Museum of Nebraska Art; served on the Kearney Public Library board and volunteered many years to the Good Samaritan Hospital. He will be endearingly remembered and missed for his devotion to his wife, family, country and especially his great love of animals.

Surviving relatives include his Sons, Mark J. Sanders of Kearney, Scott J. Sanders of Kearney and James M. Sanders of Kearney; Grandchildren, Shea Sanders, Andrea Sanders and Christopher Sanders.

Sidney was preceded in death by his Parents and his wife, Carol.