JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC

This Christmas Eve, I am sorry to report the death of one of Kansas City’s stoutest, most resolute friends of Kansas City’s disadvantaged people.

Rev. John Wandless — retired Catholic priest, founder of the Urban Ranger Corps and founder of the nonprofit organization What U Can Do — died this week.

John Wandless

John was 79 and lived a stone’s throw from the grounds of St. Teresa’s Academy. He was found in his home yesterday afternoon, apparently having died a few days earlier of a heart attack. (He suffered from atrial fibrillation.) Funeral arrangements had not been made as of this writing.

Before becoming a priest, John was a husband and father. His survivors include his son Tom Wandless, who lives in the San Francisco area, and daughter Julie Thompson of Kansas City. (Julie’s husband is Chris Thompson, one of the late Byron Thompson’s sons.)

…I was proud to call John a friend, as well as an associate through political involvement.

John and I worked together on two political campaigns. The first, in 2013, was Jackson County’s foolhardy bid to convince voters to approve a sales tax to make the county a “translational medical research” center.

John contributed several thousands dollars to an opposing campaign committee that I formed — Committee to Stop a Bad Cure — and voters defeated the proposal by a mind-boggling 86 percent to 14 percent.

One statement John made during that campaign is permanently etched in my memory; it reflected his general view toward the haves and the have nots: “The one percent is always ready to tax poor people.”

The second political issue on which John and I teamed up was the push earlier this year to convince the Kansas City Council to approve a $15-an-hour minimum wage. The initiative failed, but once again John put his money (and he had a lot of it) where his convictions were. He recruited me to spend thousands of his dollars to purchase billboards and newspaper ads to promote the minimum-wage campaign.

He still hadn’t completely given up hope on the minimum wage issue at the time of his death.

Although John did not have a high public profile, he was extremely effective at what he did for three reasons: Purity of intent, irresistible personality and willingness to spend his own money on the causes closest to his heart.

When I say purity of intent, I mean he was never, ever looking for publicity or to advance himself. His abiding interest was improving the lot of poor people — helping them get good jobs and, in turn, gain pride and dignity.

In personality, he was a joy to be around. In an easy-going way, he would propound big ideas and sometimes unattainable aspirations — always for the benefit of others — but then he’d circle around to the here and now and say, “Let’s go to Panera and get some lunch.”

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His route to personal success and then to the priesthood was unusual.

He got a college education through the G.I. Bill of Rights. He then worked for the federal government during the 1960s War on Poverty program. Later, he got into the computer software business and founded a company, Cactus Software in Overland Park, that provides products and services to the health care industry. He made millions.

An article in The Catholic Key described how he became interested in becoming a priest after his wife of 30 years died of cancer.

Inspired by the love and service of priests who stood by him in his grief, (he) entered the seminary at a time when men his age were making their final plans for retirement. He was ordained in 1997 at age 60 and gave 10 years of active service as a priest, including the inner-city pastorate at St. Louis Parish that he actively sought.

One of his greatest successes while serving as an inner-city priest was forming the Urban Ranger Corps, which provided summer jobs to boys 14 to 18. The goal was to give the boys confidence and basic skills, such as home repair, that would serve as a stepping stones to more significant jobs down the road. The Urban Ranger Corps, which remains active under different leadership, was not a hand-out program. The boys were held to demanding standards, which were embodied in six words that John stressed: “Be on time. Dress properly. Speak respectfully.”

John’s last venture was founding What U Can Do, a social welfare organization that John used as a vehicle to continue pushing for a better life for disadvantaged people. Once again, though, John used his money to advance his altruism. At the time of his death, he was in the process of establishing What U Can Do as a 501(c)(4) organization, which is different than a 501(c)(3) in that it can spend money on political activities and campaigns, as long as those activities pertain to the organization’s mission.

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I will close with a few quotes that John gave to the writer of The Catholic Key article. They go to the heart of his philosophy about the importance of human dignity and empowering the lowly.

“When someone appreciates you and what you have done, that builds up self-esteem.”

“There’s no job that doesn’t have anything to do with your future.”

“If you have a chance to go to work and earn a paycheck, then you have choices.”

May you be with God in heaven this Christmas Eve, John.