Jonathan Scott Perdue

Jonathan Scott Perdue of Richardson, Texas died on April 29, 2026, after a year-long courageous battle with aggressive Burkitt Lymphoma cancer. He was 44 years old. He was surrounded in his home by his children, wife, parents, and friends as he took his last breath on earth and first in Heaven.

Jon was born December 4, 1981, in Uvalde, Texas, the fourth child of William and Susan McHorse Perdue. He grew up on Navy and Marine Corps bases all over the country, from Southern California to the Sierras to Chicago to Corpus Christi, while his dad served as a Chaplain for the United States Navy. He attended Baylor University, and met his wife, Lesleigh, on summer break when they were each visiting their parents stationed (together) in Japan. Their Navy Chaplain dads ‘volun-told’ them to lead the worship music together at the Navy chapel’s evening service, and the rest is history.

Jon was easy-going and funny, steady and humble, beloved by all who knew him. A devoted husband and dad, and a faithful friend. He was happiest when he was with his wife and kids, and loved to smoke a brisket, make homemade salsa and fresh bread for his family and friends. Every summer, he and his kids picked peaches from their peach tree, and he would make a big batch of homemade peach ice cream. He taught his kids to love long bike rides and ski black diamonds. Jon loved to take his family and friends out on the boat, teaching his kids to water ski and kneeboard. He loved hosting friends and family and was always game for a party. On his first visit to the Texas Pool, he won the Belly Flop contest and got a T-shirt to prove it. Jon was, without question, the fun parent who fully committed to air drums and air guitar during a dance party and told the best and silliest made-up bedtime stories, that always included lots of fart jokes. He loved music, playing piano and guitar, and (finally) finished reading the Harry Potter books this year. To no one’s surprise, he was the hufflepuffiest of Hufflepuffs.

Jon was the dreamiest of husbands, and he died a month shy of his 21-year wedding anniversary. Jon and Lesleigh enjoyed a blissful, joy-filled marriage, deeply devoted and dedicated to one another as the best of friends and partners. Their love was magical and resplendent; their hearts unfurled for one another with mutual adoration. They were happiest when they were together, whether it was on grand adventures with their kids, morning coffee, or 12-hour days at the cancer clinic. They were each other’s treasure and delight. The first day they met as college kids, their faces hurt from smiling and laughing together all day long—and that continued throughout their 24-year friendship. Jon would declare with genuine enthusiasm that everything Lesleigh cooked was the best thing he’d ever tasted, even though she will tell you her skills are mediocre at best. Every time he made pancakes, he made a Mickey Mouse-shaped one just for her—just to delight her—because she had once shared a favorite childhood memory with him while they were dating. Jon was gentle, kind, and generous with his love for every moment that he knew Lesleigh. There are countless tiny, momentous, and sacred ways that Jon demonstrated his love for her and their children.

The way he loved Lesleigh, Noah, Elijah, and Lucía, the love they get to carry forever, is Jon’s greatest legacy.

Jon became an airline pilot after graduating with a communications degree from Baylor in 2004. As a Captain with Pinnacle/Endeavor and Spirit Airlines, he made friends wherever he traveled. He was based in Memphis and Dallas, enjoyed his role as both Captain and flight instructor, and took stunning aerial photos and videos of sunrises and sunsets for his wife and kids. Jon would always say he was the luckiest because he loved flying, and he loved meeting new people every day of his career.

Jon was a member of Restoration Anglican Church in Richardson, Texas. It was here where his family found their beloved and faithful community. It was here they found home. It was here where Jon led music, hosted youth group, watched his children get baptized, and this community loved and cared for Jon and his family boldly and tenderly during his cancer diagnosis and treatment.

Jon’s entire community of friends (long-time and short-time friends, church community, neighbors and colleagues) cared for Jon and his family extravagantly this year. The care he and his family received from their community was decadent and legendary—a blueprint for How to Love. Their love and generosity took innumerable forms. Jon’s friends organized shifts and stayed with him night and day during the hospital stays, pilot colleagues donated sick time pay. Neighbors and friends took care of their children, maintained the yard, paid for house cleaning, and brought enough food to fill two fridges and freezers for a year.

Friends drove Jon and Lesleigh to treatments and showed up in ER rooms and hospital waiting rooms and cancer clinic infusion rooms. They held Jon and Lesleigh’s hands and hearts and rejoiced and wept and prayed over them through brain bleeding and Neuro ICU and Stem Cells and a Bone Marrow transplant and CAR-T and chemos and radiation and surgeries and immunotherapies.

And all of them held onto hope on their behalf when despair felt so nearby. They sent daily voice messages of prayers and psalms and encouragement. They held an Easter service in the waiting room of Clements hospital. Next Easter, they surprised their kids with a front yard Easter egg hunt, Easter baskets, and hosted an Easter party after a terminal diagnosis. Friends traveled from across the country for a last hug just to tell Jon they loved him, and friends came on the day of his death to sing hymns of hope over him, to pray over him, to hold his hand, tell him he and his family were loved. They held vigil throughout the day and night, holding Jon, his parents, his wife, and his kids as he took his last breath.

This faithful community has continued their love and care for Lesleigh and her family as they grieve, bubble-wrapping them in love and gentle tenderness, caring for their every need.

Jon’s community demonstrated this year what Love is.

Jon was also cared for this year by hundreds of nurses and doctors at UTSW in downtown Dallas. Nurses, doctors, CNAs, receptionists, physical therapists, housekeepers, techs and parking attendants provided compassionate, exceptional care for Jon and Lesleigh almost every day for a year. His brilliant oncology and bone marrow transplant team saved his life many, many times, advocated for him and collaborated with colleagues across the country to find new research and treatments that turned a three-month prognosis for a rare and aggressive cancer into a year. The precious nurses of the cancer clinic’s 6th floor became part of Jon and Lesleigh’s family this year: they held them, prayed over them, rejoiced with them, and wept and mourned with them. The doctors and nurses of UTSW are forever etched and woven into the story and hearts of Jon and Lesleigh.

Jon is survived by his wife, Lesleigh Joy (Carr) Perdue; sons Noah and Elijah, daughter Lucía Perdue; mother Susan Elaine (McHorse) Perdue, father William Gene Perdue Jr of Hewitt, Texas, brother Christopher Perdue and his wife Stephanie Sotelo Perdue of Tustin, California, brother Stephen Andrew Perdue and his wife Roxana Loa Perdue of Apex, North Carolina, and sister Sarah Catherine Hess and her husband Matthew Hess of Boulder, Colorado and many nieces and nephews, aunts, uncles and cousins.

A memorial service for Jon will be held at 1:00 p.m., Saturday, May 16, 2026, at Hasley Chapel, St. Andrew Methodist Church, Plano, Texas.

Jon will be inurned at Good Shepherd Columbarium of St. Andrew Methodist Church.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made for the care and future of his children at: https://gofund.me/c97396365