Samuel Benjamin "Sam" Kemple

Samuel B. “Sam” Kemple, 91, Levasy, MO passed away November 16, 2016. Services will be 11:00 a.m., Monday, November 21, 2016 at Zion’s Hope Church, 36436 Stoenner Rd., Sibley, MO 64088. Visitation will begin at 10:00 a.m. before the service at the church. Sam was born August 1, 1925 in Ontario, CA and grew up there. He quit high school at age seventeen and enlisted in the U.S. Navy where he served as a pilot during WW II. He entered college after the war and eventually earned his Masters degree in Design Engineering. As a product engineer he was an integral part of many projects over his career, the most famous was designing some of the equipment in the Apollo 11 Lunar Module, which still remains on the Moon. He was very project-focused in his home life as well and was always designing and implementing his plans. He was an avid bicyclist and took part many times in the MS 150 Ride for Muscular Dystrophy. He was a member of Zion’s Hope Church. Sam is survived by his wife of forty-four years Lila Charlene Kemple, of the home; daughter Denise Rice, Houston, TX; sons Mark Kemple, Dallas, TX; Craig Kemple and wife Joyce, Houston, TX; grandsons Jeffrey Alejos; Connor Rice, both of Kansas City, MO and Brenton Rice, Lawrence, KS.