Sam Beyer 1923-2022

Sam Beyer 1923-2022

Milton Samuel “Sam” Beyer passed away on July 22, 2022, in Oklahoma City, Okla.

Graveside services will be held at 9 a.m. Friday, July 29 at the Norman IOOF Cemetery, 1913 N. Porter Ave., Norman, Okla. Services are entrusted to Tribute Memorial Care. 

Sam was born on Dec. 14, 1923, to Jessie Eulalie and Roscoe Beyer in a four-room house on the farm called Chow Hill five miles southeast of Muscotah. He graduated from Holton High School and joined the Navy in May of 1943 during World War II. 

Sam always had the will to survive and during the war his ship, The USS Ommaney Bay, was struck by a kamikaze attack from the Japanese in January of 1945, sinking the small aircraft carrier. Sam, surviving the attack, had to abandon ship and was in the water waiting for hours to be rescued. Sam was truly part of the greatest generation. 

After the war, he became a licensed civil engineer and worked with the Kansas Highway Department for 10 years. He continued his career with Myers Construction, a highway contractor in El Dorado, for 11 years, then transitioned his career to begin working for Broce Construction, a highway contractor in Kansas, and managed the Oklahoma operations until his retirement.

Serving his industry, he was a board member of the Oklahoma Asphalt Paving Association and a board member of the Oklahoma AGC. Teams that he lead won the Shelton Hays award for the best asphalt road in the U.S. three years in a row.

He married Peggy Sewell in 1978 and she died of cancer in 2016.

He was also preceded in death by his mother and father, sister Dorothy Vanderwall and sister Beverly Bistline. 

He is survived by a daughter, Deborah Sands and husband Rob Sands of Melbourne Beach, Fla.; a son, Milton S Beyer Jr. of Toronto; a son, John “Dick” Beyer and wife Susan of Norman, Okla.; a grandson, Jacob Beyer of Melbourne, Fla.; a granddaughter, Jennifer Davenport and husband John of Norman, Okla.; and a great-grandson, Bond Davenport, and a great-granddaughter, York Davenport, both of Norman, Okla.

(PAID OBITUARY)

The Holton Recorder

109 W. Fourth St.
Holton, KS 66436
Phone: 785-364-3141
 

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