Jack Dodd Powell

A Celebration of Life for Jack Powell, 21, Lawrence, will be held Saturday evening, June 1st from 7pm – 9pm at The Lawrence Arts Center. Jack passed away unexpectedly at the end of January 2019.

Jack was an English major and Spanish minor taking classes toward his Masters in secondary education at Temple University and worked at the Rosenbach Museum and Library in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the time of his death.

Jack was born on the 4th of July, 1997 in Lawrence, Kansas. As a toddler, Jack loved acting and grew up participating in theatre at the Lawrence Arts Center, The University of Kansas, Bishop Seabury and at the Saint Louis University campus in Madrid, Spain. He excelled in Forensics during his high school period, as well.

Quick witted and always with an adventurer’s heart, Jack loved traveling and exploring and had the passport to prove it. Thought of as an “old soul,” Jack was an amazing storyteller, loved everything vintage and took pride in the old-fashioned way he did things. He drove a 1962 Ford Falcon and at age 16 soloed a 1952 Cessna. He enjoyed history and literature and was a published poet. He spent a year studying abroad in Spain where he grew to love their lamps, public transportation, people, and culture.

He was an Eagle Scout and was elected Crew Chief his second trip to Philmont, New Mexico. He was also elected a prefect for his senior year of high school.

Jack is often described as “wise-beyond-his-years.” He believed in sharing human kindness and valued each of his relationships. He was elected to give the class charge to his high school senior class, and his speech included the following: “There is no greater gift than to have your life enriched by seeing, hearing, or experiencing something you never would have if it hadn’t been for another person to expose you to it. And that person is a teacher.”

He ended his speech by urging his class to “go out there and TEACH something.”

Jack is survived by his parents, Brian and Michelle, and his sister Miranda, as well as his grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins.

Memorials may be made in Jack’s name to The Lawrence Arts Center where donations will be directed to the center’s Theatre program.