Everett man’s true calling was planting Japanese maples

A stand of trees is now a permanent tribute to Jim Sandmeyer at Evergreen Arboretum and Gardens in Everett’s Legion Park.

“In fact, the Japanese maple grove was his idea. Not only did he select the trees and care for them, he held class demonstrations,” said Sandy Schumacher, marketing director for the arboretum and a board member.

Sandmeyer spent his career in the publishing business, but in retirement the Everett man found his true calling. “After he retired, he became a master gardener, focusing on Japanese maple propagation and care,” Schumacher said.

When a celebration of Sandmeyer’s life was held last month in Legion Park’s Legion Hall, Schumacher said it was a standing-room-only event. During the ceremony, friends and loved ones were invited to write notes about Sandmeyer and hang them on a small maple tree.

“All the Japanese maples there, he planted,” Dick Sandmeyer said of his brother’s efforts at the park. He said his brother also worked at the public Kubota Garden in Seattle. “He was an internationally known expert on Japanese maples,” said Dick Sandmeyer, who lives on Henry Island in the San Juans, where Jim Sandmeyer spent much of his time.

James Douglas Sandmeyer died Oct. 10 after suffering from stomach cancer. He was 76.

Born Aug. 28, 1932, he was raised in Yakima. The son of Gertrude and Ernest Sandmeyer, he graduated from Marquette High School, a Catholic boys school, in Yakima, and from Gonzaga University with bachelor’s degree in biology. He attended St. Louis University School of Medicine from 1955 to 1957, but his brother said a medical career wasn’t for him.

“Jim said he couldn’t go to sleep after doing rounds, he couldn’t stop worrying about the patients,” Dick Sandmeyer said.

Along with his brother, Sandmeyer is survived by two children, Matthew Sandmeyer of Everett and Margaret Sandmeyer Dodge of Costa Mesa, Calif.; and by two grandchildren, Dane and Miles Dodge. He had been divorced for many years.

“The thing I take from my dad, even as he got older — some older people get more set in their ways — he was actually more open to new things. I don’t think he ever approached a person without the thought that he might learn something new,” Dodge said.

Her father always loved botany, an interest Dodge said he shared with his father, who was a farmer. Her father’s expertise in Japanese maples began with propagation, but Dodge said it was in pruning trees that he showed his artistry. “He had the heart of an artist or a poet,” she said.

His son Matt Sandmeyer of Everett has memories of blissful summers spent on Henry Island. “For the three months of summer, his sole focus was hanging out with us, fishing and camping. We were lucky,” he said. “The other thing growing up, whenever we had a conversation, he’d say he was proud of me.”

Dick Sandmeyer said his brother worked for John Wiley and Sons Inc., a publisher of textbooks and encyclopedias. His territory covered the Northwest, Alaska and Hawaii. The job allowed him summers off.

“He found his passion late in life,” Matt Sandmeyer said. “He loved nature and birds, but he never had time to pursue gardening until he retired.”

Matt Sandmeyer said he was amazed when he met people whose trees his father pruned. “He drove by one maple tree every day. One day he knocked on the door, it was an older couple,” Sandmeyer said. “He told them he’d love to work on it, but they couldn’t afford it. He asked, ‘Do you know how to make cookies?’ And he took care of their tree.”

For 19 years, Lorraine Crenshaw was Jim Sandmeyer’s next-door neighbor. He lived in a condominium near Mariner High School. “He was incredible, that’s the best word I can find for him,” Crenshaw said. “He was an excellent neighbor and an excellent person.”

Crenshaw saw how he started the little trees, first under lights in his garage and then on his deck. Many of those trees were sold at an annual plant sale at McCollum Park, with proceeds helping the Master Gardener Volunteer Program, part of WSU-Snohomish County Cooperative Extension.

“In the 19 years we talked, I never heard him say a bad thing about anyone,” Crenshaw said. “He was so positive about everything. He was such a good person.”

Reporter Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460 or muhlstein@heraldnet.com.