Celebrant Pam Meily Vetter


	Celebrating Life Everyone Has A Story...

John Lester Perdue was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to his parents, Bea and Lester, two days before Christmas on December 23rd, 1927. He was raised in Highland Park, California. His mother was a homemaker, while his father had many sets of cars keys as he worked as a car salesman. John was greatly influenced by his father Lester's strong work ethic.

As a young child, John broke his back twice and had to go through two back surgeries. The doctors fused his back together and he spent a lot of his childhood in a body cast. He was a tough guy, though, and a survivor.

As a teenager, John was into cars. He worked hard for his first set of car keys as a teenager. With his buddies, they built their own cars, they built their own engines and they raced cars.

John and his friends raced their cars at the famous Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. They drove for the sheer fun of driving. They simply loved racing cars. In the years ahead, John had Model A's, a 32 coupe but his favorite was his 1940 Forde Coupe. His love of cars was a constant as he enjoyed selling and trading cars throughout his life. John graduated from Franklin High School.

John met his future wife at a friend's house. Her name was Beverly Keene. The couple had a lot in common and started dating. On one of their dates, John picked her up on a motorcycle and they drove around for half of the day. And, then they dropped off the motorcycle and started driving in his truck. They had so much fun together, they drove to another state... all the way to Arizona.

Believe it or not, three weeks after they met, the couple was married on March 6th, 1954, in Quartzsite, Arizona, and their families attended their wedding. It's been quite a ride as the couple has been married for 59 incredible years. They loved each other... they were husband and wife... they were best friends... and John always protected Bev.

The couple had three wonderful children: John, Jim and Vicky. They both loved becoming parents.

Bev and John had a traditional marriage. Bev raised the children and she was a homemaker while John worked hard and was a good provider.

Professionally, John worked for seven years driving a steel truck. For 33 years, he worked for the City of Los Angeles. He started first at the Department of Parks & Recreation as a truck driver. He transferred to the Department of Water and Power, working his way up to an equipment operator and then a heavy equipment operator. When he retired at the age of 62, he was a backhoe operator.

In those early years, John also worked side jobs. After working all day for the Department of Water and Power, he'd come home, grab a bite to eat and go to his second job working at a gas station from 6 to 11 pm at night. In the later years, he'd also work on Saturdays as a mechanic at the Barbara Ann Bakery where his friend, Ferd, worked. He always had side jobs and he had a good strong work ethic.

And, he was also a part of history. In August of 1966, John helped move the animals from the small Griffith Park Zoo, which was closing, to the new location at the Los Angeles Zoo. All was good until the rhinoceros got loose from his create trapping John on top of the crane he was operating. Fortunately, the rhino was herded back into the crate and returned to zoo so it could open in November of 1966.

Bev and John's children all learned from their parents about hard work, early responsibilities, and the importance of family.

John was a good father and the children John, Jim and Vicky always knew that they were loved. He was strict at times, but he also invested time in his children as they became older.

The family spent holidays together especially Thanksgiving and Christmas. For Thanksgiving, Bev always did the cooking and he loved it. For Christmas, the family put up a Christmas tree and there were lots of presents from Santa.

He taught all of the kids how to work on their own cars; Vicky recalls being taught to change her own oil in the car. John built Vicky's first car for her, it was a VW Baja Bug. She could out-run anyone who pulled up next to her at a stoplight, because she had the faster engine.

With John and Jim, he rebuilt engines in their cars and dune buggies. They also rebuilt the engine on their boat so they could go water skiing when they went camping by the lake. They started their family camping adventures with tents, then he bought a camper and after that, he bought a motor home. He'd play Freddy Fender songs when they went camping. And, everybody in the family loved water skiing.

Bev and John had a close group of friends and all of their kids grew up together and they'd go camping, waterskiing and ride motorcycles. That group included: Tom and Carol, Ferd and June, Betty and Bud, and Bob and Joyce, to name a few. They had many friends.

When the kids were in their 20s, the family bought and rebuilt a boat, restored it completely with fiberglass and then used it to go water skiing. In fact, the grandchildren, and many of their friends learned how to waterski behind that boat.

John was absolutely unique in his interests. His children and grandchildren inherited his spunk and spirit in life.

Keeping the family together was important. Thirty years ago, the family bought a cabin at Running Springs together and they'd spend weekends and summers there.

John loved all of his grandchildren and he was very proud of each one of his grandchildren. He even passed his loves and passions onto some of his grandchildren.

Vicky and Jeff's sons love NASCAR racing, just like Grandpa. In fact, Vicky and Jeff bought tickets for four seats to the California Speedway every year. John, the two boys and Jeff went to the watch the races every year and he loved it. Oftentimes, it was a three-day event and he enjoyed watching the qualifying round. They'd go on Friday or Saturday, get passes to go on to the field so he could see the drivers. He really enjoyed those times at the speedway. Even when he couldn't go, they still kept the seat for dad.

John just loved racing. John and Bev would drive to Sacramento with a group of friends, or they'd go to the races in Phoenix for a weekend. And, they flew to Indianapolis to see the Indy 500 one year.

It was truly a Memorial Day when the Indy 500 was on television. The men watched the Indy 500 together, the women spent time together while the kids played outside. The Indy 500 was definitely a national holiday in the Perdue home.
When it came to having fun, John finished first. He loved listening to all types of music. He liked listening to Loretta Lynn and some country music.

His favorite soup was Bev's homemade Menudo, which is a Spanish soup that she made from scratch. He loved her home cooking, especially her spaghetti and enchiladas.

For Bev and John, they'd go out with friends or they'd go out to the neighborhood tavern called Larry and Ginger's for dancing and to drink beer. Beer was his favorite drink for many years, especially Lucky Lager in the early years and then Miller Lite later on.

His favorite cigars were La Plata Cigars that he smoked for decades. Bev would drive to downtown Los Angeles and she'd pick up a couple of boxes of the Cuban handrolled cigars for him.

He was adventurous, too. In 2006, the kids took Bev and John to the island of Kauai in Hawaii. They rented a house on the beach for a week. John loved watching turtles swim in the waves as the water came into the beach. He'd have a cigar on the balcony or he'd sit on the lanai while Bev read a book. They even took a kayak trip out into the water. Jeff and John were kayaking together when John decided to stand up to get more comfortable and the kayak went over. Fortunately, the rest of the family pulled their kayaks together and put their paddles together to get both John and Jeff back into the kayak.

There were also a few cruises over the years including one to Mexico and one to the Bahamas with June and Sparky. Bev and John liked to dance in the early days and they danced on the cruises again. John would tell stories about how Bev danced on the shuffleboard on one of their outings back in the old days. He had lots of stories and good memories. Stories about Bev always made him smile.

John had a wonderful sense of humor. He was very sarcastic and he passed that same sarcastic sense of humor on to his kids. He and Vicky had some verbal sparring to see who could outdo each other and it was always in good fun as they'd joke back and forth.

When it came to his favorite TV shows, he liked to watch People's Court with Judge Milian and Two and a Half Men with Charlie Sheen.

John had a subscription to the weekly Speed Sport News. He loved reading it because it had racing information, NASCAR stories and statistics.

John was a strong family man and he kept his family together. He didn't have a great family life growing up, but he created an excellent family life for his wife, children and grandchildren. He had a great partnership and teamwork with Bev. He was devoted to her and he protected her.

Vicky and Jeff have lived with Bev and John for more than 22 years. In 1991, they built the upstairs so they could live together. It was an excellent decision.

He was a wonderful father-in-law to all of the in-laws, too. For Jeff, he was like a father to him. In fact, both Bev and John were like Jeff's parents. He's known them since he was 17. All weekend long, Jeff and Uncle, Dud as Jeff called him, would watch the races together.

Jim researched places to have a special celebration in honor of Bev and John's 50th wedding anniversary. The family held a surprise 50th wedding anniversary party for them at the Golden Nugget in Laughlin. It was great fun and they took lots of family photos at that gathering with their children and grandchildren. It was known as the Perdue Anniversary Party and they had part of the restaurant curtained off to celebrate together as a family.

John also met all five of his great-grandchildren and spent some time with them at holidays and birthdays. He had pure pride for every generation to follow him...

Life was not without challenges for John. In 2006, he was diagnosed with Parkinson's. It didn't slow him down and he didn't complain.

Only for the last year and a half, he used a wheelchair. When Vicky and Jeff took Bev and John out to dinner, they'd sit in the backseat holding hands. It was so cute. Even when they went to restaurants, John didn't want to be wheeled up to the table. Instead, he insisted that be move out of the wheelchair and into a regular chair like everyone else. He still lived his life as best he could...with dignity.

Through the years, John appreciated the companionship of dogs. They had three white German Shepherds, one black German Shepherd, and then for the past five years, they've had Casey, a chocolate Lab. Casey would sleep on the bed with John every night. Casey would sleep in between the couple and then push John over further to make more room for himself. Even when John was sleeping in a hospital bed that had been moved into the front room and Bev was sleeping in the recliner in the living room, that dog would jump up into his bed and give him kisses. It made him laugh and smile. And, Vicky knew how much he loved that dog who was always by his side.

It was John's wish to be in his own home until the end and the family's goal was to keep him at home. Vicky was very proud that everybody worked together and she was able to keep that promise to him.

He didn't like to ask for help and oftentimes, he tried to stand up on his own and suffered several falls. It wasn't always easy. Sandy and her sister Margie would take turns staying with them during the daytime.

In his closing days, most of the family had a chance to visit him at the hospital. He was only in the hospital for five days. His son John visited him, Beverly told him, "I love you." And, Vicky did one of the hardest things there is to do. She gave him permission to go. She said, "It's okay to go. We'll be okay and mom will be okay. Don't worry about us." Jim, who lives in Alabama, wanted to remember his dad the way he used to be... In the end, John passed away peacefully.

John was proudest of his entire family... his racecars... and his house. His purpose in life was to be a good family man, an excellent provider and to share his love of racing with everyone.

His family will miss everything about him... John will miss sitting on the porch and smoking a cigar with him.... Vicky will miss their early morning chats at the kitchen table ...Jim will miss visiting with him on the many trips home he makes from Alabama and Bev misses her best friend in life. Bev hopes he's watching over her now and we believe he is because he was always very protective of Bev.

His advice to everyone would be to remember him, but move forward, and be happy in life. And, he'd tell Jeff and the boys to watch NASCAR for him. Jeff said it best when he told John at the hospital... "We have a seat for you at the racetrack and... we'll see you at the races." John was laid to rest with one of his favorite cigars by his side...

The legend of John Perdue
He wanted a big racing crew
He changed carburators
Used alligator clamps and bailing wire
And always knew what to do.

But when push came to shove
The thing he most loved
Was his crew led by Beverly
Who he always quite cleverly
Treated with the best of kid gloves.

John L. Perdue is loved and remembered by his wife Beverly; his son John and daughter-in-law Sandy; his son Jim and daughter-in-law Lelia; his daughter Vicky and son-in-law Jeff; his grandchildren Genevieve, Nicole, Michelle, Marcus, Jeff, Allison, David, and Thomas; five great-grandchildren Malyia, Rachel, Tyler, Cici, and Caleb; extended family and many friends.