Lloyd Mintzmyer dies in car crash; was chief engineer at Smoky Hills PTV

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Lloyd Mintzmyer, the founding chief engineer at Smoky Hills Public Television in Bunker Hill, Kan., died in an automobile accident Oct. 14 south of Glade, Kan. He was 66.

“Mintzmyer was a friend, a colleague and even a mentor to employees at the TV station and the surrounding community,” said Michael Quade, station g.m. “His dedication to the cause of public television in Kansas was instrumental in getting Smoky Hills Public Television where it is today.”

Mintzmyer was chief engineer at SHPTV from 1981 to 2004. “He was part of the team that was there to put up the very first broadcast tower for KOOD,” Quade said. “In fact, he most likely wired the fixture and screwed in the lightbulb.”

Mintzmyer served for several years on the board of directors of the Praise Network, a group of AM/FM radio stations serving Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota and Colorado, and became the network’s president in 2005.

He was born May 2, 1946, in Holdrege, Neb., to Edward and Rose Fecht Mintzmyer. On July 22, 1972, he married Karen Schluntz in Huntley, Neb.

Mintzmyer served as an electronics technician in the U.S. Navy.

Survivors include his wife; daughters, Tracy, Jody and Katie; and sister, Arlene.

Services will take place Thursday at High Plains Baptist Church in Hays, Kan. Burial will be in Fort Hays Memorial Gardens Cemetery with military honors by the Hays American Legion.

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