John Anderton

John Bennett Anderton, 67, of Gladstone, Missouri passed away on May 3, 2019 at Northcare Hospice from pancreatic cancer.

John was a New Year’s baby, born on January 1, 1952 to George and Betty (Campfield) Anderton in Kansas City, Missouri. Growing up, John was active with the Boy Scouts of America where he was an Eagle Scout and member of the Tribe of Mic-o-say. After graduating from Oak Park High School he attended UMKC, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in audio visual communications. This led to his first career working for Channel 41 news as the Chief Film Editor, where he was in charge of airing the commercials. He worked the night shift and was always disappointed that after a long day of work and wanting to come home, turn on the TV, and relax, there was never anything to watch. Since this was back when the airwaves were silent after midnight, he had the brilliant idea of scheduling movies to play in the middle of the night purely for his own entertainment. It caught on and now we have the endless 24 hour channels that we enjoy today, though nobody ever gives John credit. After leaving the world of TV broadcast, he never lost his love for television and usually had two TV’s set up in his living room playing simultaneously.

John also loved cars, so he began a career as an automotive worker for General Motors, where he worked for nearly 40 years. He was a proud member and co-chair Vice President of Communications for the GM Local 31 Union and especially enjoyed being a part of the production team for his favorite car, the Chevy Malibu. He was affectionately known around GM as the “Cookie Man” after passing out cookies during the strike of 2007. It was hard to miss his vibrant personality — even from a distance you could always spot him in his Hawaiian shirts. Not only was his generosity noticed at work, but he was very generous with his family. He made every day seem like Christmas. He especially loved Black Friday shopping. He would go through ad after ad to find the best deals and even went as far as recruiting other family members to be his surrogate at stores when unlike his televisions, he could not be two places at once. Other hobbies he also enjoyed were photography, painting, and spending time with friends and his beloved cocker spaniels.

John is preceded in death by his parents and cocker spaniels.  He will be fondly remembered and greatly missed by his sister Judy (Tom) Jennings; nephews, Toby (Amber) and Christopher Jennings; great niece, Mikayla Marcel; and many lifelong friends.

A celebration of John’s life will be held on Saturday, May 11th at 11:00 am, with visitation beginning at 10:00 am, and burial to follow at Terrace Park Cemetery - Lakeside Chapel. In honor of John, please wear your favorite Hawaiian shirt and if you do not have one some will be available at the service.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to American Cancer Society – Pancreatic Cancer (https://www.cancer.org/cancer/pancreatic-cancer.html).