James Robert Brinkmeyer

James Robert Brinkmeyer passed away at the age of 23 on March 20, 2023. He will be remembered for his kind and loving personality, as well as his patience, curiosity, humor, and intelligence. James was a devoted son, brother, uncle, cousin, grandson, and friend who always showed up for his loved ones.

James was born February 15, 2000 in Wichita, Kansas to Cindy Brinkmeyer and Tracey Owens.

As a child, James had an interest in Godzilla, Power Rangers, superheroes, and Pokémon. He was well known in his family to only like to eat bologna sandwiches, mac 'n cheese, hot dogs, and hamburgers with ketchup only. He was fascinated by puzzles and was able to quickly solve rubik's cubes of all different types. He enjoyed playing video games, board games, watching movies and bantering with his brothers. James was extremely bright, and was admitted to the gifted program at a young age. He represented Wichita and North High at a national Academic and Tech competition in Boston. He went on to graduate from Wichita North in 2018.

After high school, James attended Wichita State University and was studying computer science. He worked for National Institution for Aviation Research (NIAR) as a robotics programmer. His job supported his passion for technology, as he spent many nights and weekends working on his robotic projects, including teaching robots how to box in virtual reality and creating a chess-playing robot, which unfortunately had a flaw that made it unable to win.

Outside of his work, James had a love for Marvel/DC movies, playing Dungeons and Dragons, board games, PC gaming, and making dad jokes. James was always a jokester who loved to tease his brothers and friends, and enjoyed telling zingers. He was an animal lover and always willing to take care of the family pets, often pet-sitting for his mom and siblings. Recently, James developed an interest in camping and hiking with his friends, and had started to explore different foods and was looking forward to traveling with his siblings.

James cherished his family above all else. He was very dependable and was always willing to help with moving, setting up technology, house-sitting, and anything to help out his mom, Cindy. Recently, James became an uncle to Bennett, his sister Dana's son. To commemorate this, he created fun nicknames for himself and his brothers as they became uncles, "gruncle" (grumpy uncle for Michael), "hunkle" (hunky uncle for Matthew), and he himself the "funcle" (fun uncle). James also enjoyed spending time with his cousins. He was always willing to play games with them, give piggyback rides, and jump around in the bounce house.

Two things that everyone knew about James was that he was always the first to say "I love you" and he gave the best hugs. He will be deeply missed by his family and friends who will always remember him as a loving, kind, and curious person.

James is survived by his mother, Cindy Brinkmeyer of Wichita, his father, Tracey R. Owens of Wichita, parental figure Larry Boland of Wichita, and parental figure Steve Brinkmeyer of Wichita. He is survived by three siblings on his maternal side, Dana (Michael) Skach of Wichita, Michael (Ashley) of Phoenix, and Matthew (Diana) of Wichita. He will be missed by his nephew Bennett. James is also survived by his grandparents David Owens of Brooklyn, NY, Connie Brown of Wichita, and Janet Brinkmeyer of Wichita. Additionally, he is survived by his Uncles Barry Owens of Wichita, and Michael (Lori) Wescott of Andale, Kansas, and his aunt Debra (Mike) Fisher of Wichita. James leaves behind cousins Katy, Stephanie, Allison, Flynn, Amanda, Augie, Jacob, Samantha, and Leila.

James is preceded in death by his Grandfather Ben Weaver, Grandmother Treva Weaver, his Uncle Daryl Weaver, and his Great Grandmother Lorene Brown.

James' celebration of life will be Saturday, April 8, 2023 at 10:00 am. The services will be at Devorss Flanagan-Hunt Mortuary on 201 South Hydraulic, Wichita, Kansas, and also may be joined by livestream at https://view.oneroomstreaming.com/index.php?data=MTY4MDA0NTU3NjI0MzQzNiZvbmVyb29tLWFkbWluJmNvcHlfbGluaw== - committal will follow at noon at White Chapel Cemetery, located at 1806 N. Oliver, Wichita, KS 67208. The family invites friends and attendees to a reception, which will take place following committal. The location of the reception is at 12219 W. Sheriac St., Wichita, KS 67235.

In lieu of flowers, the family wishes to have donations made to the Kansas Humane Society or Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation in James' honor.