John C. Waters, Jr., 55, of Shawnee, Kansas, passed away on May 2, 2020. John was born on October 4, 1965. He was raised in Shawnee, Kansas. John was proud to be a life-long Shawnee boy. He attended Ray Marsh Elementary School, Hocker Grove Junior High School, and Shawnee Mission Northwest, graduating with the Class of 1984. Growing up, he loved pitching in baseball and defense in football (number 45, mean and nasty).

John was blessed with three wonderful sons. Joche and Jake were born with his first wife, Shari Hoover. Dakota was born with his second wife, Renae Waters.

In his first career, John worked under Fred Pflumm and became a certified licensed plumber. He was then blessed to spend the next 25+ years working with his best friend and father, Jack Waters. Together they formed a great pair with John assisting Jack with the construction contracting side of many commercial developments in Shawnee. John's footprint is in the fine tenant finish work in commercial spaces around the Kansas City metro area. He also built many homes in Shawnee and occasionally did high end remodel work for family and friends. John had a special eye and talent for making his projects unique.

John fashioned himself to be a fun-loving cowboy, but his good deeds showed a heart of gold. He had a lot of good times with great life-long friends, who always showed themselves to be there for one another through thick and thin. John loved hunting, fast boats at LOTO (almost always accompanied by Kool and the Gang's "Celebration"), and fast old cars. He could laugh with the best of them. He could build with the best of them. He was tinkering and working on something all of the time. John was without a filter. If he thought it, it usually came out, creating laughs for now, and later. John was a collector of all things. He got that trait honestly, but we are not mentioning any names. He would pop in at unexpected moments, say or do unexpected things, and make the world a little less predictable, funnier and a better place to be. He loved kids and would do anything for any of them. For those he loved, his loyalty was unfailing. If anyone needed anything, he was literally Johnny on the Spot. He would lend a trailer, a truck, a tractor, an Argo, or the shirt off his back (but it may have a huge flag or say AFLAC on it in large Nascar print). There was so much gold in John and we were all blessed to have him in our lives.

John left the world doing what he loved, riding off into the sunset, on his golf cart, with his dogs, on his farm.

John will be forever missed by his beloved three sons, John ("Joche") (married to Maddison), Jacob ("Jake"), and Dakota. John loved and lived for his boys. John recently became the very proud grandpa to twins John ("Jack") and Charlotte ("Charlie"). He had big plans to shower them with go-carts and pink escalades by Power Wheels. John also treasured his little buddy Jeffrey, whom he loved like a grandson. John is also survived by his Mom ("Dorothy") and Dad (John "Jack"), sister Diane (married to Janell), and brother Patrick. John also loved dearly his nieces Logan and Addison. Equally as important, he leaves his four-legged friends, Rooster (as in Cogburn), Shelby (as in Mustang), and Sammy the cat. John loved and will be remembered by his Aunt Joyce (Drew), Aunt Jane (Steve), and Uncle Mike (Debbie). He also leaves many extended relatives and cousins. John loved and will be missed by countless lifelong friends whom we are grateful to count in our lives as extended family. P.S. John would want us to use this as his one last plug for Trump 2020.

Services

Due to COVID, live services will be private. However, the funeral mass will be live streamed from St. Joseph Catholic Church, on the Amos Family Funeral Home Facebook page on Saturday, May 9, beginning at 10:00 a.m. There will be a public gathering following the funeral beginning at 1:00 p.m. at the Knights of Columbus Park, 19699 Shawnee Mission Parkway, Shawnee. The park is large and we do ask everyone to respect social distancing restrictions.

Memorial Contributions

The family suggests memorial contributions in John’s honor be made to the Great Plains SPCA, 5428 Antioch Dr., Merriam, KS, 66202