Louis Sanders

Louis Reinhardt Sanders was born on January 8, 1986, the first child to Carol and Scott Sanders. He was named in honor of their fathers-Carol's father Louis and Scott's father RH. Louis grew up in League City, Texas, and his childhood was full of memories of little league baseball, hot kolaches, and summer trips floating down the Comal. Louis was a student at South Shore Montessori, Walter Hall Elementary, Creekside Intermediate, and Clear Creek High School, graduating in 2004. It was there that he met the love of his life, Elletra Parnell, his constant companion to this day. After high school, Louis and Elletra attended Texas A&M together, graduating from College Station in 2008.

Louis and Elletra returned to the Houston area after college and began building a life together. Louis quickly inherited Elletra's love of animals and over the years they rescued a whole menagerie of injured, abandoned, and lonely animals, nursing them back to health and happiness. Of course, some of those animals ended up adopting them in return, and as a result their house has always been filled with the sound of paws bounding across the floor to welcome their humans home.

Louis was a natural salesman because he had a gift so needed in our world today: an authentic interest in others coupled with the ability to find something, no matter how small, in common with everyone he met. He was popular for his humor and storytelling, but he was beloved for his uprightness. Simply put, Louis was a good man: a good son, a good brother, a good husband, a good colleague, and a good friend.

But perhaps above all these, Louis was a good father, as his own auspicious naming destined him to be. On March 6, 2020, Elletra gave birth to their twin girls-Orla and Astrid-and they joined their mother at the center of Louis' world. He rejoiced in being a father, and he reoriented his entire life around his girls. His love of animals expanded into an overarching care for the natural world to ensure it would be a beautiful place for them to grow up in. It is not enough to say that Louis was a good father, as if it was just one part of who he was alongside many other identities, interests, and relationships. Louis was a father throughout his whole being, and over the past two years he was blessed with the chance to become who he was always meant to be.

Louis Reinhardt Sanders passed away unexpectedly on Sunday, January 23, 2022. Louis is preceded in death by his grandparents Louis Kirst, Betty Kirst Dooley, Robert Dooley, Wacille Sanders, and RH "Sandy" Sanders. He is survived by his wife Elletra Parnell, his daughters Astrid and Orla, his mother and father Carol and Scott Sanders, his in-laws Yvonne and Darren, his sister Elizabeth, his sisters-in-law Kelsey and Tyler, his brothers-in-law Callum and Hunter, as well as countless aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews, friends, and colleagues.

Memorial services will be held at Emken-Linton Funeral Home, 5100 Emmett F. Lowry Expressway, Texas City, TX 77591, on Saturday, January 29, 2022 with visitation beginning at 12:00 p.m., and services beginning at 1:00 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation to the Armand Bayou Nature Center, whose mission aligns with Louis' dedication to conservation and children's education, in his memory.