'Patent Leather Shoes' Novelist, Mount Greenwood Native Dies at 67

He was a local boy who took his childhood memories of the South Side and spun them into hysterical tales that chronicled the shared experiences of a Catholic education. 

John R. Powers died Jan. 17 at his home in Lake Geneva, Wis. at the age of 67. 

Powers grew up in Mount Greenwood and attended Brother Rice High School. He gained fame as a satirist whose 1975 novel "Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up?" poked fun at his strict Catholic schooling. 

The book was later turned into a musical that made its way to Broadway in 1982. However, the musical found its real success in local and community productions where it became a must-see show for every former Catholic school kid. 

"On the day he died he just finished a new one-man play," a friend told the Chicago Sun-Times.

In a 2008 interview Power reflected on his writing and how his childhood experiences informed the tone of his work.

"I do know a lot of people who had happy childhoods, and I was not one of them," Powers said. "I did not like being a child, I did not like being small . . . someone who was really happy with being a child and happy with their life wouldn't have written a book about growing up Catholic."

While his work may have possessed an underlying sense of childhood pain, its sharp humor also delighted fans. 

Powers wrote other novels including "The Unoriginal Sinner and the Ice Cream God," "The Last Catholic in America," "The Junk Drawer" and "Corner Store."

He lived in Lake Geneva and also worked as a motivational speaker when he was not writing.

His daughter Jacey Powers told the Chicago Tribune that, “he cherished every moment and lived with tremendous passion and motivated others to do the same.” 

He is survived by his wife JaNelle Powers and daughters Jacey and Joy. A funeral service was held in Wisconsin over the weekend.