Richard and Muriel Saunders Family Scholarship

“This Scholarship is being established by Anne and Paul Saunders in memory of their parents.
Richard Paul Saunders M.D.
December 24, 1924 – June 13, 2008
Richard (Dick) Saunders died on Friday, June 13, 2008 in Grand Junction. He was 83 years old. Dick was born in Council Bluffs, Iowa to Paul J Saunders and Lillian Elizabeth Banther Saunders. Following his mother’s death in 1933 the family moved to Colorado.
Upon his graduation from Wheatridge High School in 1943, he reported immediately for active duty in the US Army. Dick’s lifelong ambition was to become a doctor. This dream was realized when the Army cut orders for him to attend medical school following the successful completion of a battery of tests. He graduated from Saint Louis School of Medicine in 1949.
Following Medical School Dick served in the Army Medical Corps of the US Occupation Troops in Munich, Germany. Here he met his wife of 57 years, Muriel Helen Hagstrom. They were married on February 24, 1951. Returning to the US in 1952, Dick began his four-year residency program in pathology at Denver General Hospital. He became the first pathologist in Durango, Colorado in January 1956.
Dick was the 40th physician in the Grand Valley when he and his family moved to Grand Junction in August of 1958. He was a pathologist at St. Mary’s Hospital for over 30 years. At that time the pathology department served 14 area hospitals in Western Colorado and Eastern Utah. He learned to fly an airplane in order to cover the long distances between these hospitals.
Dick loved to sail and taught himself celestial navigation. He also loved to ski and will be remembered as an avid reader and a keen intellect. He commented often to his children that he had been very fortunate in both his life and his marriage.
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He is survived by his wife, Muriel, his daughter, Anne P. Saunders, both of Grand Junction, his son, Paul J Saunders II of San Francisco, and his brother, Jack L Saunders, of Williamsburg, VA.
Muriel Helen Saunders
September 24, 1923 – March 5, 2012
Muriel Helen Saunders died on March 5, 2012 of complications from Alzheimer’s Disease in Grand Junction, Colorado. She was 88 years old. Muriel was an identical twin born to Arvid (Harvey) Reynold Hagstrom and Lena Gertrude Sheehan Hagstrom in Whitman, Massachusetts on September 24, 1923. She and her twin, Marilyn, were mirror twins, which means one twin is right handed and the other left handed. Muriel was the left-handed twin.
She graduated from Whitman High School in June 1941. Following the outbreak of WWII she and her twin sister took civil service exams and moved to Washington D.C. where Muriel worked as a secretary in the newly built Pentagon. After WWII, Muriel worked as a secretary for the US Army in Germany. At one point during her career she worked in the same building where the Nuremburg trials were held. Sometimes she would sit in on the trials during her coffee or lunch breaks.
She met her husband of 57 years, Richard (Dick) Paul Saunders, in Munich Germany where he was serving as an Army doctor for the American Occupation Troops. They were married on February 24, 1951. Returning to the US in 1952, they lived in Denver and Durango before settling in Grand Junction in 1958 with their two children, Anne and Paul.
Muriel was a devoted wife and mother. She served as a room mother and PTA officer at her children’s elementary school. She volunteered in St. Mary’s Hospital Auxiliary. She never missed one of her children’s games, plays or recitals. She read to her children often, instilling in them a love of reading. Muriel was a natural athlete and loved to golf, bike, ski, and play tennis. She taught herself to play the piano and speak Spanish. She will be remembered by her children as a gracious, kind, and loving person – a truly great lady.
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Muriel is survived by her two children, Anne P. Saunders of Grand Junction, and Paul J Saunders II of San Francisco, a sister, Joyce M. Hagstrom Lake (Brian) of Bradenton, Florida, and a brother, Donald E. Hagstrom (Linnea) of Clinton, Connecticut. She is preceded in death by her husband, Richard P. Saunders, her parents, her sisters, Marie L. Hagstrom, Marilyn M. Ackerman and her brother, Harvey Hagstrom.”