John Sanderson was the type of person who was full of life, always ready for the next venture.
The Mississippi State University student who was fatally shot on campus Saturday was remembered by friends and family as lively and kind.
Jessica Tree, sophomore wildlife and fisheries major, met Sanderson when she was in the ninth grade and he was a junior in high school.
For the two years she knew him and the three months she dated him, she said he was always caring.
“I would say he was always energetic,” she said. “He was never tired and always excited to see his friends.”
Tree said she was initially attracted to him because he was considered to be the “bad boy” type, yet he treated her incredibly well.
“He was really sweet … he would write me notes every day that said I inspired him to be a better person,” she said. “He was not a bad person.”
Tree said their high school was designed so that ninth grade was held in a different location than tenth, eleventh and twelfth grades. Sanderson would ride the bus to her location every day instead of riding home with friends, just so he could ride home with her.
She said he was so much fun to be around and remembered him as having a great sense of humor. However, she said he was the type of person you would have to know pretty well to realize how kind he truly was.
“It was one of those situations where once you got to know him, he was really sweet,” she said. “He would still take care of you.”
Tree said she lost contact with Sanderson after he graduated high school and had not spoken to him since that time.
She said she did not know he was at MSU until the weekend’s events unfolded.
“I wish I would’ve had the chance to reconnect with him when he got here,” she said.
Rusty Sanderson, John’s father, said there are no words to describe his grief at the sudden and unexpected loss of his son.
“He was my favorite person in the world,” he said.
Sanderson said his son was exactly where he wanted to be at MSU. He told his father of his sudden decision to attend the university, did all of the work required to enroll at MSU by himself and was happy in Starkville, he said, adding that he was making good grades this semester. He said his son was always ready for the next task or project that lay before him.
“I live in a house that he helped build,” he said. “He was at my house every other weekend … He was my favorite person to be with. He was the most beautiful thing in the world.”
Sanderson said if there was one aspect of his son’scharacter he would want people to remember, it would be John’s forgiveness. He had written a poem about forgiveness that his friend, Anthony Terranova, knew about but that his father had never read.
“He was trying to get past the grudge-holding phase,” he said.
Rev. Bill Barksdale, Madison United Methodist Church youth pastor, said in an email that he has worked with numerous young people who spent eight months or more in Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility where Sanderson was serving time after being sentenced on two counts of simple assault.
Throughout his experience mentoring these young people, most of those he counseled were unable to finish school or maintain employment after their release. However, John was different.
“Our correctional system fails to prepare any of their inmates for re-entry into a community …(John) had been the exception to my experience,” he said, adding that Sanderson graduated from Holmes Community College within one year of his release, a notable feat, and immediately enrolled at MSU, where he was doing well in school.
Barksdale said John kept in close touch with his family and friends back home while in Starkville and was considered loyal by his friends as he stuck with them throughout the years.
“I had talked with John about one of the other high school youth in my group who had gotten in trouble with the law, and John really wanted to sit down and talk with him,” he said. “(He wanted to) help him understand the potential consequences of his actions.”
Barksdale said John’s character traits of being compassionate and caring only added to other qualities family and friends loved about him.