John Thomas Pascua

John Thomas Pascua, 57, of Jonesboro, AR passed away Sunday, February 12, 2017 at his home. He died as a result of being stubborn, refusing to seek medical treatment, oxygen deprivation and exhausted of all “the dumb liberals" as he so often referred to. Typical Filipino male. He always said he wanted to die with a woman’s bosom in his face.. close enough, right? He will be sadly and sorely missed by his loving family and friends. John, whom his friends affectionately called “Johnny”, “Big Dawg” or “Big John”, will be remembered for his wonderful, slightly twisted sense of humor and his dedication to his family.

John was born January 27, 1960 in Detroit, MI to Thomas “Tom Tom” James Pascua and Iva Lee Ritchie (Pascua). He was the youngest of many, many children as Tom Tom was a ladies man and fathered John at the age of 60 years old. The family made a move to the small town of Oak Grove, AR when John was a toddler. Growing up John enjoyed being on the farm as well as riding motorcycles, playing guitar and drums, being part of photography club at school, and karate. He was a second degree black belt by the time he finished. In 1975 he was quoted in the local newspaper as wanting to open his own karate school one day, but then he went and fell in love.

He married his sweetheart in 1980, and later went on to have two children (probably made in his favorited ‘Little Red Express Truck’). The next 18 years after that were obviously all about his girls and when he got the time he enjoyed hunting, fishing, and hanging out with his friends. After divorcing he once again became a ladies man (like father, like son), but never remarried as he was completely dedicated to seeing his girls growing up. In his last years he went back to school to get his second baccalaureate and was currently working on his MBA from Arkansas State University. In his spare time he ran a tax company, burned a lot of illegal movies off the internet, watched a lot of (questionable) TV shows, spent too much money online shopping, obsessively keeping up with receipts and being the best Dad and Papaw around, not necessarily in that order. He loved to laugh at himself as well as others. He never met a stranger. He was the go to guy for advice and a computer genius. If you were lucky enough to be one of his many friends, it’s almost a guarantee he gave you advice or fixed a computer for you.

John is survived by his two greatest accomplishments, daughters Heather Pascua-Maxwell and Hannah Vines, his brightest stars, his grandbabies, Kyleigh Maxwell, John Weston Maxwell, and Gryffin Maxwell, his ex-wife and sometimes good friend, Cindy Humphrey, his best friend of 25 years, Paul Prunty, his two handsome son in laws, Spencer Maxwell and Blake Vines, brother Jerry Acuff, and two nephews Michael Acuff and Jerry Lee Acuff. Too many close friends to name, but y’all know who you are.

A Celebration of Life will held Friday, Febuary 24, 2017 at Emerson Funeral Home in Jonesboro, AR. Service at 6 p.m. with visitation an hour before. In lieu of flowers, please consider donations to NEA Humane Society, 6111 Highland Drive, Jonesboro, AR 72401 or St Jude Children’s Research Hospital, 262 Danny Thomas Place, Memphis, TN 38105.