Walter Lewis Mersmann died on Saturday, August 1st, in his home, surrounded by his family. Walter was born in Ottawa, KS on February 18th, 1952, to Clyde and Thelma Mersmann. His family moved to Lawrence in 1956 and to Eudora in 1964, where Walter met his future wife, Martha Grosdidier. Martha saw him serving Mass and noticed that “there was something special about his spirit.” Walt wanted to ask her out, but avoided doing so because other people were always around. Though he did eventually ask Martha on a date in late 1977, Walter would continue to avoid social situations for the remainder of his life. When he picked up Martha for their first date, he said it was love at first sight, and they have been inseparable ever since. They were married at Holy Family Church on July 8, 1978.
Walt had several occupations that he tolerated to varying degrees: a mover, an electrician apprentice, a dairy farmer, and an assembly worker. His true vocation, however, was as a husband and father. Walt’s dedication to his wife and nine children was beyond measure. He was a tireless provider for, and servant to, those he loved.
Many of Walt’s years raising children were spent on the dairy farm. He woke before the sun to care for cows, bale hay in the summer heat, and spent the hours he could spare at the farmhouse with his family - the same farmhouse where Martha was raised decades earlier. Walt could fix almost anything, which helped a great deal considering his children were excellent at breaking things. He could often be found in the farm shed, looking for the right piece to finish the task in front of him.
Walt was a man of practical faith, one lived rather than preached, and God was at the center of his life. He was drawn to St Joseph and dedicated himself to the saint early in his marriage. He was once asked if he was happy with the way he had lived his life, if he could look back and know he had done well. He said he knew this much: he walked with God every day, and when it was all over, he would walk for eternity with the Lord. Walt could often be found talking to God while he did his farm chores, enjoying the quiet of nature, where he could converse with the Lord. Despite not having the best singing voice, he sang every song at Mass, saying, “God gave me this voice, so he probably likes to hear it.”
He was a man of few words all his life, but when he did speak, the words were usually worth hearing. He was known for his thoughtful birthday cards, and secretly telling each of his children they were his favorite. When he began to lose vocabulary, it was a heavy loss that his words became even fewer as time went on. Walt was diagnosed with Frontotemporal Dementia in 2024, a condition that caused him to lose his ability to speak, and ultimately took his life. Despite his lost vocabulary, Walt kept his sense of humor, and saved his words to joke with (and about) his children, and to enjoy the antics of his grandchildren.
Walt is survived by his wife, Martha, his favorite children: Molly (Gary) Pratt, Ruth (Bob) Finnegan, Therese (Rick) Vink, Maureen Mersmann, Michael (Laura) Mersmann, Charles (Bridget) Mersmann, Marian Mersmann (Varun Joshi), Fr. Anthony Mersmann, and Claire Mersmann (Allen Collins), his grandchildren: Rachel (Thomas Arguear), Jonah, Henry, Lucy, Leo, Simon, and Oliver Pratt, Robert, Bishop, Elaine, and Ivan Finnegan, Isaac (Jadyn) and Davis Vink, Luyanda, Lindani, and Amahle Nkambule, Ellie and Dominic Mersmann, Gianna, Gerard, and Walter Mersmann, Aadi and Rishi Joshi, great grandchildren: Baylor and Bennett Vink, and his siblings Fred (Lois) Mersmann, Tom (Robin Gingrich) Mersmann and Wanda VanDyke. He was preceded in death by his parents, Clyde and Thelma Mersmann, brother, Michael Mersmann, and grandchildren, Molly, Ava, Martha, John, and Zellie.
A Rosary, Vigil Service will be at 3:45 PM with visitation following till 6:00 PM, Wednesday, August 5, 2026 at Holy Family Catholic Church, 820 Birch Street, Eudora, KS 66025. Funeral Mass will be 9:30 AM, Thursday, August 6, 2026 at Holy Family Catholic Church. Burial to follow at Holy Family Catholic Cemetery. In lieu of flowers the family suggests memorial contributions to Sisters Servants of Mary, 800 North 18th St., Kansas City, KS 66102 or for Vocations at the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas, 12615 Parallel Parkway, Kansas City, KS 66109.
Those Winter Sundays
By Robert Hayde
Sundays too my father got up early and put his clothes on in the blueblack cold, then with cracked hands that ached from labor in the weekday weather made banked fires blaze. No one ever thanked him.
I’d wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking. When the rooms were warm, he’d call, and slowly I would rise and dress, fearing the chronic angers of that house,
Speaking indifferently to him, who had driven out the cold and polished my good shoes as well. What did I know, what did I know of love’s austere and lonely offices?