Deacon John Purk, DDS, PhD of Kansas City, Missouri passed away unexpectedly on March 9, 2024.

Born in St. Louis, Missouri, on September 10, 1952, to Henry and Jane Purk, John was the oldest of seven children. After graduating from University of Missouri-St. Louis (UMSL), he relocated to Kansas City in 1973 to attend the University of Missouri-Kansas City Dental School.

While teaching at UMKC, John ran a part-time private practice on the Plaza, seeing patients every Wednesday for 36 years.

John's love for teaching began at UMKC. As a professor, he had the privilege to teach and enrich the minds of countless dental students for 35 years. During his time at UMKC, he served as Section Head of Operative Dentistry and attained both his Masters in Oral Biology and his interdisciplinary PhD in Oral Biology and Engineering.

At the completion of his tenure at UMKC in August 2018, John partially relocated to Omaha, Nebraska to serve as Chair of the Department of Oral Health Promotion at the Creighton University School of Dentistry.

John spent five and a half years with Creighton, where he was instrumental in the redesign and delivery of the department's curriculum, assisted in the development of the school's group practice model, and led the merger of the Departments of Community and Preventive Dentistry and Diagnostic Sciences into the current Department of Oral Health Promotion.

Combining his love of dentistry and his Catholic faith, he also worked to redesign the Ethics courses at the School of Dentistry, working closely with their Jesuit community.

John met the love of his life, Patty, in the fall of 1977. John and Patty married on August 2, 1980, and enjoyed 43 years of marriage together. John and Patty were blessed with seven children and five grandchildren. John and his wife were lay members of the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity (SOLT) for 40 years.

After learning more about the Catholic faith from his friend and mentor, Fr. James Flanigan, the founder of SOLT, John felt a calling to combine his love of teaching and evangelization. He produced numerous podcasts on the Three Ways of the Spiritual Life and a Scripture Rosary (DVD). He also hosted and produced the "Communio" radio program on 1090 AM KEXS Catholic Radio Network. All of his homilies and talks can be found on his website at JohnPurk.com

Later in life, John felt called to serve the Church in a deeper way and was ordained to the permanent deaconate on June 7, 2014.  He was always willing to assist with Mass at his geographical parish, St. Andrew the Apostle in Gladstone or at his most recent appointment with SOLT at Guardian Angels Catholic Church in Kansas City.

Deacon John is preceded in death by his parents, Henry and Jane Purk. He is survived by his wife, Patricia (Jordan), seven children; daughter Christine White (Stephen) of Falls Church, VA; daughter Theresa Purk of Roeland Park, KS; son John Purk of Kansas City, MO; daughter Elizabeth Purk of Dallas, TX, son Michael Purk (Maddie) of Rowlett, TX; daughter Patricia Purk of Kansas City, MO; and daughter Mary Rose Purk of Kansas City, MO. He was a proud grandfather and beloved "Papa" to Chiara, Olivia, Leo, and Josephine White who miss him terribly. John's fifth grandchild is due this September to Michael and Maddie. John is survived by his siblings, Mary Winkelmann (Al) of St. Louis, MO; Bill Purk of St. Louis,MO; Gary Purk (Mary) of Chicago, IL, Ray Purk (Darcy) of Owensboro, KY; Marilyn Boncek (Ray) of Chester Springs, PA; Steve Purk of Heartland, TX.  He was a proud uncle and godfather to over 30 nieces, nephews, and their children.

The visitation and rosary will be held at St. Andrew the Apostle Catholic Church in Gladstone, Missouri, on Friday, March 15, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., with the Rosary beginning at 8:00 p.m. The funeral Mass will be held on Saturday, March 16, at 11:00 a.m. at Guardian Angels Roman Catholic Church in Kansas City, Missouri.  Interment at Mount Olivet Cemetery will immediately follow the service and a lunch reception will be held at 1:30 PM at Guardian Angels Church.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Society of our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity via https://solt.net/about-us/donate . Please indicate "SOLT Lay Fund" in the gift designation.