Donald "Max" Entrikin, 83, passed away January 3, 2017, in Topeka, Kansas. Born in Abilene, Kansas, February 10, 1933 to Frank Entrikin and Pearl (Gump) Entrikin, he grew up on the Entrikin farm 17 miles southwest of Abilene. He graduated from Dickinson County Community High School in 1951. Max proudly served as a radio operator in the United States Army from December 1953 to December 1955. He attended Kansas State University, graduating with a degree in Electrical Engineering in 1959. After graduation, he worked for Collins Radio and General Dynamics. Max moved to northern Ohio in 1962 to work for the space program (NASA) at Lewis Research Station and at Plumbrook Station. While a resident of Port Clinton, Ohio, Max earned his Professional Engineer (PE) license and was elected President of the School Board. In 1973 he continued his government career as Chief of Electronics with the National Weather Service (NOAA) in Kansas City. In 1990 Max received the Meritorious Service medal from the Department of Commerce for developing and administering the Special Engineering Projects Office (SEPO) during his career at NOAA.

After retiring from government service, Max started a home inspection business, KESCO, in Lawrence, where he also served on the City Planning Commission and wired houses for Habitat for Humanity. He enjoyed woodworking and running a sawmill business with his brother-in-law. Together, they milled many board feet of lumber, much of it black walnut from the Entrikin farm. Max used some of the sawmill lumber to build Mission style furniture and custom pieces that are treasured by his family. Max was also known for his creative "junk" welded lawn sculptures that adorned his Lawrence home.

In 2001, Max bought a 40 acre farm near Eskridge, Kansas, where the view of the Flint Hills to the west rivaled that of his boyhood home. Always a farmer at heart, Max enjoyed his vegetable gardens, his restored Ford tractor, his dogs and the Caterpillar bulldozer he used to excavate and reinforce his farm ponds. Max designed and built a giant trebuchet, "Mad Max," delighting his large family by hurling a variety of test projectiles in his brome field. Max still holds the hedgeball chucking record and trophy for distance in his class-1,113 feet-at the Eureka Kansas Hedgeball Chuckin' Contest. Max designed, milled and built many operational model steam engines, a hobby he continued to enjoy after moving to Topeka in 2012.

In 2003, Max married his loving wife, Nancy, who survives him. Max also leaves two daughters, Kie (Ron) Zelms, O’Fallon, Illinois and Lyn Entrikin, Maumelle, Arkansas; sister, Nadine Griffin, Salina, Kansas and Nancy’s daughter, Marsha (Jim) Power, Overbrook, Kansas. A son, Michael Brent Entrikin, predeceased him.

Also surviving are Max’s five grandchildren, Zach (Megan) Zelms, Alison Zelms, Megan Goering, Hobbes Entrikin-Goering, and Ben Goering; his two great-grandchildren, Madison and Molly Zelms; Nancy’s two grandchildren, Maggie (Mike) Hall and Bailey Bixler and her two great-grandchildren, June and Vada May Hall.

Max and Nancy’s children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren will deeply miss Max’s wisdom, guidance, political commentaries, and abiding love for them all.

Max Entrikin left a legacy of hard work, high standards and principle. He believed that success in any task is possible with determination, planning and hard work. He was an example to all who knew him.

We will celebrate Max's life at Mt. Hope Cemetery and Funeral Chapel in Topeka on January 21st at 11:00 am. The family will receive friends beginning at 10:30. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Midland Care, 200 SW Frazier Circle, Topeka, KS 66606 or the Topeka Rescue Mission, P.O. Box 8350, Topeka, KS 66608.5005