David Michael “Mike” Shemwell, 71, of Bentonville, Arkansas, and Los Altos, California, passed away Saturday, November 29, 2025, at Mercy Hospital in Rogers, Arkansas. He was surrounded by his loving wife, Lisa; his daughter, Sarah and son-in-law, Chris, with grandchildren, Jackson and Ella, as he transitioned to his eternal home.

Mike was born June 16, 1954, in Jefferson City, Missouri, to the late Billy and Clarice (Walker) Shemwell of Jefferson City, Missouri, where Mike grew up and lived until college. He attended South Elementary School, Simonsen Junior High and graduated, in 1972, from Jefferson City Senior High School.

As a young boy, Mike developed his love of hunting walking alongside his Grandpa Clarence Walker and the fence rows on his farm near Green City, MO. Both his father, Billy Shemwell, and Grandpa Walker instilled in him a deep connection to fishing. In turn, Mike loved sharing those passions of hunting and fishing throughout his life, especially with his grandson, Jackson.

A Boy Scouts of America member, Missouri Troop 1 (sponsored by The First Methodist Church of Jefferson City), Mike obtained the top designation of Eagle Scout. Also, a member of First Methodist Church, he was active in Sunday school and youth group programs, attending yearly outreach programs to underprivileged communities in Missouri, Colorado and New Mexico.

As a student, Mike excelled academically, along with being an all-state wrestler and playing high school football. He was a trombonist in the school band and marched in the annual Cherry Blossom Parade in Washington, DC, in 1971. He maintained lifelong friends from high school and was looking forward to seeing that exceptional group of friends at their collective seventy-second birthday year reunion this June.

He continued his educational journey at Central Missouri State University-Warrensburg (CMSU), where he pledged with The Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, and forged lifelong friendships along the way. A winter term psychology class at CMSU was also where Mike met his future wife.

In 1976, Mike received a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Safety with a minor in Criminal Justice from CMSU, followed by a Master of Science in Industrial Safety and Environmental Health in 1978.

On July 29, 1978, Mike married his college sweetheart, Lisa Ann Richtermeyer of Grand Pass, Missouri, at St. Paul United Church of Christ in Blackburn, Missouri, with his uncle, Rev. James Shemwell, officiating the union. Three days later, Mike and Lisa boarded a flight to San Francisco to start their married home life and careers in the Los Altos/Mountain View, California, area. Both had long employments at Hewlett-Packard, filling ever expanding roles for more than forty years.

The creation of The Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in 1971 also brought a demand to fill safety related positions in manufacturing companies. CMSU was one of two colleges at the time offering the degrees necessary for this new industrial field, so the value of Mike’s two industrial safety related college degrees produced quick results.

Upon his 1978 graduation, Mike landed a position as a safety specialist with Hewlett-Packard’s manufacturing division in Palo Alto, California, by following a fraternity brother, Cedric Hughes, into a needed second position. With the expansion of Hewlett Packard Palo Alto Research Labs on Deer Creek Road, Mike was instrumental in setting up the gas systems within the labs. The foundation of his work helped develop what we know today as LEDs, MRIs and atomic desk clocks. Mike liked to display his unique sense of humor by deadpanning, “My job was to keep the ‘mad scientists’ from blowing themselves up!”

In 2021, Mike’s daughter, Sarah, received a promotion within Wal-Mart’s home office and moved her family to Bentonville. Mike and Lisa followed them some months later, settling in a house down the street from grandchildren Ella’s and Jackson’s elementary school.

In addition to his parents, Mike was preceded in death by his uncle, Rev. James Martin Shemwell of Mexico, Missouri, and his grandparents: Clarence and Lera (Robertson) Walker of Green City, Missouri, and Bishop Wilson and Gussie Lee (Finnell) Shemwell of Columbia, Missouri.

Mike is survived by his wife, Lisa Ann (Richtermeyer) Shemwell; daughter, Sarah Ann (Shemwell) Jones and son-in-law, Christopher “Chris” Lee Jones, with grandchildren Jackson Shemwell Jones and Ella Ann Jones of Bentonville; brother, J. Patrick Shemwell, and his wife Katie Burkett, with nephew John Shemwell of Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania; sister-in-law, Lita Kay (Richtermeyer) Jimenez and her husband, Edgar of St. Charles, Illinois, with nephew Kerry Jimenez of Chicago, Illinois and niece Carlita “Carly” LeeAnn Jimenez of San Diego, California, and Michael Jimenez and his wife, Lissa of Littleton, Colorado, with great-nephew Leo Jimenez, along with numerous cousins and friends.

Following a simple foot surgery on October 2, 2025, Mike experienced neurotoxicity complications from prescribed preventive antibiotics. After several miraculous rebounds, he had been expected to be home by Thanksgiving. Ultimately and unexpectedly, he succumbed to an antibiotic-resistant “superbug” infection that both his immunocompromised system and medical intervention could not overcome.

Friends and family are invited to celebrate Mike’s life at these gatherings:

- June 6, 2026 (10 a.m. to noon): Canterbury Winery, 1707 S. Summit Drive, Holts Summit, near his hometown of Jefferson City, Missouri.

- July 25, 2026 (11 a.m. to 1 p.m.): Los Altos United Methodist Church, 655 Magdalena Avenue in Los Altos, California, where he worked for Hewlett Packard and developed passions for ocean fishing and trap shooting.

Condolences to Mike’s family may be sent to Lisa A. (Richtermeyer) Shemwell at 3403 NW

Park Hill Boulevard, Bentonville, AR 72712. Please consider these options in memoriam:

“Be a Donor Check the Box “As a 2014 donor kidney recipient, Mike would be honored if you decided to become an organ and tissue donor by “checking the box,” and making your wishes known to your family and/or in your medical directive.

The University of California, San Francisco, is accepting donations in Mike’s honor. A direct donation link is: The Kidney Project. If writing a physical check, make it payable to UCSF Foundation and add The Kidney Project to the memo line. Address: UCSF Foundation, PO Box 45339, San Francisco, CA 94145-0339. Mike had closely followed, and was encouraged by, UCSF research and technological advancements in artificial kidney research and development.

To honor Mike in his hometown, a scholarship fund has been established in his honor at Jefferson City High School, 609 Union St., Jefferson City, MO 65101.

As an avid outdoorsman and marksman who was proud to share those passions with his grandson Jackson, Mike would be honored by your donations to Ozark Youth Shooting Sports: OYSS c/o PO Box 2512, Bentonville, AR 72712.

Donations may be made directly to the respective organizations or sent in care of the family, noting they are in memory of Mike Shemwell.

Cremation arrangements are entrusted to Benton County Memorial Park & Funeral Home.