John J. Sandmeyer

John J. Sandmeyer, 86, of Topeka, was called home on Thursday, May 28, 2009. Mr. Sandmeyer was born Sept. 19, 1922, in Topeka to Charles A. and Georgia Westbrook Sandmeyer. He was a 1940 graduate of Topeka High School. He married Belva Butler on Sept. 7, 1949, in Topeka. She survives. He was a U.S. Army veteran of World War II and used the GI Bill to earn degrees in mechanical engineering and business from Kansas State Agricultural College. After graduation in 1950, his work took him and his bride to Kansas City, Mo., Poughkeepsie, N.Y., Carbondale, Pa., and Parsons before they settled back in Topeka in 1954. Mr. Sandmeyer worked many years in Topeka for the Van Doren Hazard consulting engineering firm. A contract between that company and the U.S. Navy took him to the farthest reach of the planet, the South Pole, while working on a job at the McMurdo base in Antarctica. He also worked for Santa Fe Railway and the state architect's office. In the early 1940s, he was a draftsman drawing house plans for the F.L. Garlinghouse Co. He also was a draftsman and tool designer for the Boeing Co. and another aircraft company before joining the Army. Throughout his career, he helped manufacturers and entrepreneurs bring products to market by engineering production processes and refining product designs, among them a horse exerciser, eyeglasses with no metal parts and a down marker used on the sidelines at football games. He was a 55-year member of Potwin Presbyterian Church. He was a 32nd-degree Mason. With his wife, survivors also include daughter Sue Sandmeyer, Arlington, Va.; son and daughter-in-law Cary and Carolyn Sandmeyer, Topeka; daughter Lisa Sandmeyer, Topeka; granddaughter and grandson-in-law Theresa and Brian Miller; granddaughters Jessica Sandmeyer, Amanda Sandmeyer and Brianna Sandmeyer, all of Topeka, and Emily Dozier, Arlington, Va.; great-granddaughters Reegan and Aubrey Miller, Topeka; great-grandson James Neis, Topeka; his sister Georgia Daniel, Topeka; his brother Fred Sandmeyer, Overland Park; his sister-in-law Maxine Sandmeyer, Topeka; and many nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his eldest son, John Jr.; brothers Orville, Charles, Franklin and Ralph; and sisters Mildred Sandmeyer and Emma Lou Machac. Memorial contributions may be made to Potwin Presbyterian Church, 400 S.W. Washburn, Topeka, 66606. The family will receive visitors from 6 to 8 p.m. Monday at the Penwell-Gabel Mid-Town Chapel. Funeral services will be at the Mid-Town Chapel at 11 a.m. Tuesday. Cremation will follow, with inurnment at Topeka Cemetery.