John Thomas Allsup, 81, suddenly passed away at his home in The Villages, Florida, on September 14, 2025.
Born May 4, 1944, in East St. Louis, Illinois, to the late Eugene and Mary Allsup, John grew up surrounded by his brothers and sisters in Cahokia, Illinois. He attended Holy Family grade school in Cahokia and graduated from East St. Louis Assumption High School in 1962.
In 1964, John qualified for the highly competitive U.S. Navy flight training program and was commissioned as a Naval aviator in 1966. He flew fighter jets like the F-8 Crusader until he separated from the Navy in late 1969 to fly for Northwest Airlines. He moved on to Eastern Airlines in 1970 where he remained until the company went out of business in 1988. In 1989, and for more than 25 years, John worked in a variety of position for Allsup Inc., a company owned by his brother, Jim.
John was preceded in death by his parents, his brothers, David, Patrick and Michael; grandmothers Myrl Crawford and Gertrude Allsup; and grandfathers Stephen Crawford and George Allsup. He is survived by Lynn, his wife of 53 years, his sons Matthew (Kelli) of St. Charles, Missouri; Michael (Sindy), Oxford, Florida; Jeffrey of The Villages; Justin (Kristen) of Wildwood, Missouri; brothers Daniel (Yang) of Goodyear, Arizona; James of Scottsdale, Arizona; sisters Mary (Gil) Woodrome of Dupo, Illinois; Kathleen
(Dennis) Carron of Imperial, Missouri; grandchildren Molly, Collin, Nathan, Scarlett, August and Christian; and numerous nieces and nephews.
A longtime aviation fan, although John never flew in combat, he could tell chilling “war” stories with the best of them. Frankly, he told a lot of stories of all kinds. Some of them, he would later admit, even carried a germ of truth. An avid, but cheerfully inept golfer, John was inordinately proud of two late-in-life holes in one on The Villages’ links.
More importantly, John was a good man and a good friend. He will be sorely missed.