Forest Wardell Hanna II

Forest was born March 3, 1933, in Kansas City, Missouri to Forest Walker Hanna and Mary Robinson Hanna. Forest married his high school sweetheart Janet Lewis on June 6, 1959. They lovingly raised three children: Todd, Trey, and Jennie.

The oldest of three boys, Forest grew up in the Crestwood neighborhood and attended William Rockhill Nelson elementary school and Southwest High School, where he met many lifelong friends. His 3&2 baseball team for which he played first base received All-City Champions. Games were played in the open lot south of Southwest High School. Decades later, Forest presided in the same division and courtroom as his former coach, Dick Jenson.

Forest served in the U.S. Army from 1953-1956, and enjoyed the discipline, routine, and order. He completed basic training at Camp Roberts in California and qualified as a heavy weapons infantryman, a 16-week training program that substantially contributed to his later hearing loss. He completed officer training school at Fort Benning, Georgia, in 1954, graduating as a second lieutenant before later then serving in the U.S. Army Reserve. He was honorably discharged as a captain in 1962.

From childhood on, Forest maintained a strong work ethic. Spending the summer of 1943 with his grandparents, he delivered 100-plus Kansas City Times and Star newspapers to employees and residents of the Osawatomie State Hospital twice daily. He shined shoes in the Crestwood shops for 25 cents, served as a crossing guard at 54th and Holmes, and, at 15, without a driver’s license, he worked as a dishwasher and delivery truck driver for a small restaurant in Green Mountain Falls, Colorado. As a young man, he worked as a librarian at the U.S. State Department, U.S Post Office for two years, the Corps of Engineers in Kansas City during the flood of 1951, as a law clerk, and a claims adjuster.

He attended Baker University, Georgetown University, and Kansas City University (now UMKC), from which he graduated with a law degree and honors in 1961.

His legal career began in 1961 with the firm Sprinkle, Carter, Sprinkle and Larson, where he quickly became a partner skilled in trial cases. In 1973, Governor Kit Bond appointed him to the Jackson County Circuit Court, where he served in all capacities including presiding judge, civil, criminal, juvenile, and domestic for 21 years. Among his proudest accomplishments as a trial judge was disbursement of awards to victims of the Hyatt skywalk disaster. He officially accompanied the Magna Carta to Hamilton, Ontario, after it had been on display at the Nelson Atkins Museum.

In 1991, Governor Mike Ashcroft appointed him to the Missouri Court of Appeals. After “retiring” in 1999, he served as a mediator, arbitrator, and special master in litigation matters in Jackson County and other counties in Missouri. His most significant endeavor as Senior Judge was determining a plan to distribute funds to the victims of pharmacist Robert Courtney.

He received the KCMBA Presidents Award in 1991, the Michael Coburn Award in 1999, and the Joseph E. Stevens Aspire to Excellence Award in 1999 for his work educating young lawyers through the Ross T. Roberts Inn of Court. In 2008, he received the KCMBA Lifetime Achievement Award. He happily gave up his chambers to Paul Newman when the movie Mr. and Mrs. Bridge was filmed in his courtroom, Division 13.

Simple things brought him pleasure: peanut butter, Baskin Robbins ice cream, an evening beer, spy novels, hikes with his family in Sedona, the Lake District of England, and Walter Matthau movies. He photographed every county courthouse in the state of Missouri and displayed them at the Jackson County Courthouse. He built a dark room in his basement and preferred developing to taking photos. He loved golf with friends, especially a trip to the Old Course at St. Andrew’s in Scotland. He and Janet built a beautiful home in Sedona, Arizona, near dear friends Byron and Deanne, where they hosted family and friends often.

An important honor to him was serving as Scout Master of Boy Scout Troop 76 with his sons. The group motto “we never cancel a hike” was one he questioned more than once. He, Janet and the kids enjoyed many Ozark vacations in campers and tents with their Troop 76 family.

In recent years, he practiced “the three Gs” – golf, genealogy, and grandsons. He favored the latter above all else and was always happy to spend whole days with “those two scallywags.”

Forest was preceded in death by his parents, his brothers John and Bob and their wives Gloria and Estelle, and his wife of 67 years, Janet in March 2026.

He is survived by his children, Todd Hanna (Moira Rowley), Trey Hanna (Beth), and Jennie Hanna (Philip Stephens); grandchildren Garrett Stephens, Walker Stephens, and Johanna Morgan; sister-in-law Mary Ann Olson; and beloved nieces and nephews.

In lieu of flowers, his family suggests a donation to Harvesters Community Food Network.

A Graveside Service will be held at Mount Moriah Cemetery South, 10507 Holmes Road, Kansas City, MO 64131, US, on October 9, 2026, from 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm.