JOHN JOSEPH ROSS Sr.

John J. Ross, Sr., (Jack), of Kansas City, Missouri, was married to his beloved Jean Brown Ross of Edina, Minnesota for 62 years. He attended Southwest High School, Kansas State University and Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, where he received a Bachelor of Arts in English and was a member of Beta Theta Pi fraternity. He was the Chief Executive Officer of Walter W. Ross and Co. Inc. Fraternal Management Service of Beta Sigma Phi International Sorority, a woman's social and cultural organization with more than 150,000 members worldwide. He steered the company for 63 years, expanding friendship and educational opportunities for generations of women all over the world. Daughter Laura Ross Wingfield has assumed his responsibilities. Jack was a former member of the Mission Hills Country Club, the Saddle and Sirloin Club and the Kansas City Club. He was a member of the Mercury Club and the River Club. He was a member of the Country Club Christian Church and deeply devoted to his Christian faith. As a youth, he bred Arabian Horses on his family farm and continued this interest into adulthood through his support of the Kansas City American Royal Horse and Livestock Show. He was a published poet, avid watercolorist, hunter and lover of literature and wildlife. He had friends in Scotland, Austria, England and all over the United States and Canada that were made through his place in Harbour Island, The Bahamas. He was a devoted father to his son John J. Ross, Jr. and wife Lynn Myers Ross of Prairie Village, Kansas; his daughter Laura Ross Wingfield and her husband Wes Wingfield of Kansas City, Missouri; and his son Daniel B. Ross and his wife Debbie Ross of Olathe, Kansas. He was a treasured grandfather to Sarah Ross Little and husband Jeremy Little; Kristin Ross Collier and husband Joseph Collier; and Angie Phillips and husband Adam Phillips. He also had six great-grandchildren who lovingly call him Papa Jack and blow him kisses. He was a true renaissance man, at home in the saddle, the board room, walking the beach or forest trails. He sang, celebrated, danced and praised. He loved without fail and always saw the good in those he encountered. He was a Gentle Man and will be deeply missed. He was preceded in death by his father and mother, Walter W. and Dorothy Lee Ross, and his brother Walter W. Ross III. Funeral services will be at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, March 24, 2010, at the Combs Chapel of Country Club Christian Church, 6101 Ward Parkway; burial in Forest Hill Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations to Alzheimer's Association or the National Parkinson's Foundation are suggested. We wish to thank his caregivers: Ruth Jeffries, Vincent Ramey, and Beth Kisling, as well as the St. Luke's Hospice Organization. Online condolences may be given at www.mtmoriah-freeman.com. (Arr.: Mt. Moriah & Freeman Funeral Home, 816-942-2004)