Dennis Fastnacht, 75, of Lee’s Summit, Missouri, passed away at home under hospice care on January 5, 2022 at 2:25am.  Dennis was born on August 23, 1946, to Ruben and Lorraine Fastnacht, in Tripp, South Dakota. 

His mother, Lorraine Fastnacht passed away due to complications from Lupus when Dennis was just 2 years old.  Dennis then stayed with his grandparents in Tripp, while Ruben worked 3 jobs to pay for huge medical expenses due to Lorraine’s extensive illness.  Later, when Dennis was almost 5 years old, his father, Ruben married Elizabeth Rogers, and moved his family to Dallas, TX.

While in Dallas, this new family grew by the birth of two more sons, David and James.  The family remained in Dallas until 1958, when Ruben was transferred to the Kansas City area, and they resided in Wyandotte County, near Kansas City, Kansas. 

Dennis attended Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, TX, and received his Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry and Biology. 

Just after his graduation from college, Dennis was hired by the City of Kansas City, Missouri as the Chief Chemist for their Water Treatment facility.  After one year he was offered the opportunity to hire on as District Sales Manager by Nalco Chemical Corporation, for the State of Iowa, and resided in Des Moines, IA.  After 3 years, he was promoted to Regional Sales Manager and transferred to Cleveland, OH, where he resided for another 3 years. 

In July, 1977, Dennis moved back to the Kansas City area and became an Entreprenuer as a Residential Home Builder and Rental Property Developer and owner.  He became very successful by offering more Contemporary styled homes than what was currently offered at that time in the Kansas City housing market.

In July, 1989, he met Joni Ravenscraft, at a party at the Longview Farms Mansion, in Lee’s Summit, MO, where he was building homes at the time.  Dennis and Joni quickly fell in love, and were married on September 1, 1990.

Dennis and Joni became quite active in their church, and enjoyed serving in various ministries through the years, including choir, children’s ministry and door greeters, just to name a few.  The children absolutely loved Dennis, and he was known as “The Candy Man,” as he would always have a big bucket of candy to give to the children for reciting their Bible memory verse for the week. Dennis had a tremendous impact on the children, and many of them who are now in (or even out of high school) will tell of how they loved “Mr. Dennis.”  One particular Sunday School Class that Dennis and Joni taught was called “Science Quest,” Joni would teach the Bible lesson to the children, and Dennis would have the kids doing science experiments that would relate to the Bible lesson.  With his Chemistry background, Dennis was in his element!  He loved seeing the reaction of the children when he would show them how to make things blow up!

Dennis purchased a 30-year time share before he and Joni met in beautiful Cancun, Mexico.  The two of them enjoyed traveling twice a year (sometimes with friends and sometimes just the two of them) to Cancun, soaking up the sun on the beach, and exploring all that area has to offer.  Dennis loved acting as “Tour Guide” whenever they had friends join them, and he would show them areas that most Tour Guides don’t even know about!

Dennis is survived by his wife, Joni, as well as a daughter, Jenna and son, Mike.  His mother, Elizabeth, 96, in Lenexa, KS, two brothers, David of Overland Park, KS and James (Lyn) of Merriam, KS., and two grandchildren, Briana Julo, 31, and Vincent, 23. 

A Visitation and a Celebration of Life Service will be held on Saturday, January 15, 2022 at Abundant Life Church in Lee’s Summit, MO.  Visitation will be at 9:30 am, and the Celebration of Life Service will be at 11:00 am.

Donations to Abundant Life Church Children’s ministry or Samaritan’s Purse ministry are encouraged.