Jr. Thomas Clyde Messplay

Thomas C. Messplay, Jr., passed away April 21, 2021, at Aberdeen Village, Olathe, Kansas. Born July 28, 1925 in Oakland, California, he grew up in Kansas City, Missouri, where he attended Blenheim School. One of his fondest childhood memories was of the many dances he attended at Southwest High School, the Brookside Dance Hall, and Pla-Mor Ballroom at 31st and Main Streets. Whilst studying engineering at University of Kansas, Tom was drafted into the U.S. Army from 1943 to 1945 and assigned to the Army Air Corps (which became the United States Air Force) as a navigator and pilot. He never lost his love of flying, owning, and flying several airplanes over his middle years.

After his honorable discharge Tom returned to KU, only to be called home to take over the family business in his father’s declining health. He sat for and passed the engineering licensing exams and ran Messplay Machinery Company for 64 years.

Tom was a member of Mensa, still doing math problems in his head into his nineties. He enjoyed square dancing and square dance calling, was an excellent bridge player, and was a devotee of Walt Kelly’s “Pogo” satirical comic strips and books.

Tom contracted Covid-19 during the Holidays, surviving four months but declining and eventually succumbing April 21. He was buried at Park Lawn Cemetery Tuesday, April 27, 2021, a V.A. plaque will be set into to his grave marker. He is survived by three children born to him and his wife, Esther Jean Thalman Messplay: Nancy Elaine Morgan, Jane Ellen Colonno, and David Clyde Messplay.

Graveside service to be held at Memorial Park Cemetery, Wednesday, May 19, 2021, at 3pm.

Graveside service to be held at Memorial Park Cemetery, Wednesday, May 19, 2021, at 3pm.