Service today for W. R. Keyser Jr.

"Houston, we've had a problem here."

Seconds after that often-misquoted Apollo 13 radio message reached Mission Control, the call went out: "Call everybody that worked on this thing and let's see what we can do."

William R. Keyser Jr., who worked with the Sperry Corp. on motors and gyroscopes for Apollo 13, was one of those to get the call.

Mr. Keyser, also a co-founder of Associated Steel Products Inc. of Charlottesville, died Saturday in Richmond. He was 87. A graveside service will be held at Monticello Memory Gardens in Charlottesville at 11 a.m. today, Wednesday.

Because of an electrical short-circuit and small explosion, oxygen was being lost to space. The April 1970 mission to land Americans on the moon a third time had become a mission to bring three astronauts home alive.

"He had designed this little, tiny motor on the lunar lander," said his daughter, Julie Peters. That motor became part of the desperate plan to use the lunar module's power, oxygen and water stores to get the command module -- the crew capsule designed for re-entry and splashdown -- safely back to Earth. The re-rigging and repairs -- literally involving cardboard and duct tape -- worked.

Mr. Keyser, who patented several motor designs he did for NASA, kept his framed letter of appreciation at his home in the Middlesex County community of Deltaville, where he lived after he retired.

A native of Wheeling, W.Va., he graduated from the University of Virginia's engineering school. He was a member of Kiwanis in Charlottesville, and he designed a miniature golf course for residents of a home there for impaired children. They could navigate the course in wheelchairs and wheeled beds, his daughter said.

Among the products his company made were spiral staircases, Peters said.

During World War II, Mr. Keyser served in the Army Air Corps as navigator on a B-17 bomber, according to information provided by his family.

He was well-known in Deltaville and was called "the mayor of Stingray Point," partly because he loved entertaining guests and his pier was open to anyone who wanted to use it, his daughter said.

Survivors besides his daughter include two sons, Pete Keyser and Rusty Keyser; a sister, Emily Keyser; and six grandchildren.