William R. Roepka
Sweet Ole Bill (SOB) died July 21, 2022 in Hutchinson, KS after a short illness. He was 87 years old; he was born December 15, 1934 in Offerle, Kansas to Adam Frank and Viola (Goad) Roepka.
He attended Offerle schools and graduated high school as the co-valedictorian in the graduating class of three students. He married Judy A. Bentley in November of 1954; they were blessed with four children. They later divorced in 1975. He married Gwendolyn Taylor on April 9, 1976. She survives along with his children: Bill Jr. (Sheila) of Denton, Texas; Greg (Sue) and Tom (Donna) of Hutchinson and his favorite daughter Cynthia Hart (Dale) of Pueblo, Colorado. Other survivors include stepdaughters Winnie Graves of Marysville, Washington and Diana LeValley of Fort Myers, Florida and numerous nieces, nephews, grandchildren, great grandchildren, greatgreat grandchildren and “adopted” Nickerson grandchildren.
Bill was the youngest of six children; he was proceeded in death by all of his older siblings, stepson Rufus Taylor and his favorite dog Patches. He was a four year US Navy veteran; following his honorable discharge in 1957, he and his family settled in Nickerson, Kansas where he became plant manager for the Western Supply Co. air conditioning manufacturing facility until it closed in the early 1970’s. After the plant closure, he owned businesses including the Bob Inn Tavern where he was lovingly tagged with his acronym “SOB”; he also worked as a tradesman and finished his career when he retired as a supervisor for KDOT after 14 years. His first retirement was short as he dedicated his invaluable time to helping his son Greg found Stainless Systems Inc. in South Hutchinson; he finally retired permanently in 2001. Bill’s favorite hobby was woodworking; he enjoyed gifting his creations to friends and relatives until the accidental removal and reattachment of his right thumb. At that time Gwen banned him from using large power tools.
Bill loved Nickerson, Kansas, where he lived all of his adult life and served on many civic boards and the volunteer fire department where he proudly proclaimed “they saved every foundation”.
A small graveside service will be held at a later date due to the fact that most of his friends and older relatives already beat him to the pearly gates. The time and location will be announced on Facebook.
In lieu of flowers, a memorial donation can be made to the Alzheimer’s Association at alz.org/donate or a blood donation can be made to the Red Cross blood mobile where Sweet Ole Bill (SOB) caringly donated over 20 gallons of his own, some of which had to be reclaimed during the various and many surgeries required to keep him going during his 87 years.