John Powell Hastings

John Powell Hastings, 78, of Leawood, Kansas passed away on August 7, 2023 at KU Med Center. He was born on February 15, 1945 to Wendling and Elizabeth (Powell) Hastings in Orange, New Jersey.

John married Mary (Tate) Hastings, MD, in 1968. Together, they had David Tate Hastings and Matthew Moser Hastings. Mary passed away in 1983. In 1985, John married Melanie (Woodson) Hastings. They were married 38 years and two more children joined the family: William Woodson Hastings ("Billy") and Emily Hastings Dunn.

John graduated from the University of Kansas and began his career in IT at Learjet in Wichita, Kansas. Then he got an MBA at Case Western Reserve and became a Certified Public Accountant with Arthur Young. John decided that accounting was not for him and went to night law school at the University of Missouri - Kansas City, where he graduated. Soon after, the program ended because only 20% could persevere working full-time and actually graduate from night law school. During those years, John worked at Commerce Bank, where he eventually became the head of the trust department and made several lifelong friends. John really wanted to practice law and joined the law firm of Grier, Swartzman, and Weiner. John eventually struck out on his own as an estate planning attorney and continued this practice for the remainder of his career. He saw his law practice as an opportunity to serve people and tried to keep families together at the difficult time of a death. There were several years he also helped with a number of adoptions. Being very pro-life, John called adoption work "happy law". Recently, John went to a luncheon given by the Volunteer Attorney Project to honor 20+ year members. He was surprised to see his name at the top of their list. He had volunteered for 39 years.

John was a very kind, caring person with many male friends. With some of them, John tried out new lunch spots, and with others, they went to their favorite restaurants and ordered "the usual". John was an Eagle Scout. Over the years, he was quite involved with the Boy Scouts, holding many leadership positions, including troop chairman, as his three sons all participated in Scouts. His oldest son, David, persevered and became an Eagle Scout like John.

John was very witty. He started writing five-line limericks years ago. They came together easily in his head. When he did cardiac rehab after heart stents at St. Luke's Hospital, John wrote a couple of limericks for his rehab team. They framed the limericks and displayed them at their front desk. People enjoyed John's sense of humor.

John was also a very strong, committed Christian. He served as an elder at two different churches and was in various men's Bible studies. John and Melanie read the Bible together daily in later years. They were also in home fellowship groups through their church and made deep friendships there. Over the course of their 38 years of marriage, John and Melanie were in several supper clubs, which they enjoyed. They took fun trips. They were sweethearts.

We were very sad to lose John after his recent fall, where he hit his head working in the yard. He had a brain bleed and required surgery. That witty, smart brain of John's never came back after the accident. Our loss is heartbreaking and we will miss him dearly. John was not afraid of death. His salvation because of Jesus' death on the cross was the most important thing to him. For those who trust in Jesus as Savior, we know that we will see John again and this gives us great comfort. As John would say, "To God be the glory."

John is survived by his loving wife Melanie, sons David (Amy), Matthew, MD (Elizabeth, MD), and Billy Hastings (Bethanne), and his daughter Emily Dunn (Jeremy), as well as ten grandchildren, several nieces and nephews, and cousins. He is preceded in death by his wife Mary Tate Hastings, MD, his parents, Wendling and Elizabeth Hastings, his brother, Charles Hastings, MD, and his sister, Charlotte Beck.

John's funeral will be on Tuesday, August 22nd at 10:30am at Redeemer Presbyterian Church at 9333 West 159th Street, Overland Park, Kansas. A visitation will be held on Monday, August 21st from 6-8pm at Penwell-Gabel Funeral Home at 14275 South Black Bob Rd, Olathe, Kansas. Contributions in John's honor may be made to City Union Mission to help care for those in poverty and affected by homelessness (1100 East 11th Street, Kansas City, Missouri 64106, "Attention: Bookkeeping").

John's service will be livestreamed at the scheduled service time. Click Here to view the service.

To leave a message for John's family, or to share a special memory, please click on the " Share Memories" button above.