William Sandsmark
courtesy photo
William Sandsmark
CHARLO — William Lawrence Sandsmark, 89, passed away June 21, 2016. He was born Dec. 4, 1926, in Decorah, Iowa, to Lawrence and Marjorie Sarah Hogan Sandsmark.
His sister Doris Ruth Miller and husband Dwain; two nephews, Mark (Karen) Miller and Blake Miller; one niece, Valarie Weickmann (Peter); three great-nieces, one great-nephew, and numerous cousins survive him. “Bill” was a truly gifted musician from early childhood. He could make music with almost any instrument. His instruments of choice were clarinet, saxophone, and piano and his favorite style was “boogie woogie.” He would jazz up any tune he played, anywhere from hymns to folk songs to pop songs. Many evenings were spent around the piano for family singing while he played whatever the family wanted to sing. All we had to do was hum a tune and he could play it.
At age 17, with permission from his parents, he enlisted in the United States Navy. In the summers after his discharge from the Navy he and his dad worked in defense plants in the Seattle area for the remainder of the war. He stayed in the Seattle area and worked for IBM for a few years. Later he became District Manager for Doubleday Publishing Company in California and sold Literary Guild Books to public and school libraries. In 1965 he returned to Montana and was a cattle rancher for many years in the Charlo area. He retired there.
He was a loving brother, uncle and friend to all he met. He will be sorely missed by all of his family.
