James Thomas Saunders

He was born in Hartford, CT on December 24, 1944 to James Timothy and Alyce (Lambert) Saunders, both deceased. Jim was married for 47 years to the love of his life, Susan “Sue” (Zabroski) Saunders and always had that twinkle in his eye and big smile when speaking of her. A resident of Connecticut for 57 years, Jim was a licensed mechanical optician and held other business management positions, retiring from Hartford Hospital Department of Education in 2001 and settling in Florida.

Jim and Sue honeymooned at Disneyland in 1971 and that was the start of his fascination and excitement of all things Disney. There were annual trips to Walt Disney World, being a founding member of the Disney Vacation Club, completing 18 Disney cruises and leaving retirement to work 10 years as a part-time Cast member with Disney World’s Company D family. Jim was so proud to be nominated and awarded the highest recognition a Cast member can achieve, receiving Partners in Excellence in 2005 for demonstrating continued commitment to Cast Excellence, Guest Satisfaction and Business Results.

He will be remembered as a gentle, caring man with a competitive nature, especially when it came to outdoor Christmas lighting displays and July 4th themed parties complete with fireworks. Jim won “Best Holiday Decorations” for his Christmas displays quite a few times in each of the 3 Florida communities he lived in. He really enjoyed traveling and retirement enabled him the time to travel to Europe, seeing his Dad’s home city of Cork, Ireland, and to see many major landmarks and National Parks in the USA.

Besides his loving wife, Jim leaves behind two sisters: Patricia (Joseph) Chordas of Wallingford, CT and Sheila (Ronald) Ostafin of Ellington, CT, brothers-in-law James(Helene) Zabroski and Peter(Maritza) Zabroski, sisters-in-law Ellen(Anthony) Borges, Norma (Frederick) Crocker along with his many nieces and nephews, great-nieces and great nephews and countless friends whose lives are enriched for having known him.

There will be Celebration of Life events in Connecticut and Florida at dates to be determined. In lieu of flowers, you may make a donation in Jim’s name to Ronald McDonald House Charities at https://www.rmhc.org/