OBITUARY Jonathan Edward Jordan April 17, 1953 – October 2, 2018 Jonathan Edward Jordan was born in New Orleans on April 17, 1953, sharing the same birthday as his father Tom. Jonny died October 2, 2018 at the age of 65, nearly 18 months after his pancreatic cancer diagnosis. He is survived by his wife, Rebecca Jordan, their two sons Ian and Michael (and Ian’s wife Kim), his mother Margaret Jordan, his brothers Tim and Joshua Jordan, his sisters Meg Bradley (and Meg’s husband Fred), Ann Wilde (and Ann’s husband Terry), and Evelyn Jordan, brother-in-law Michael Jardine, and many loved nieces and nephews.
Anyone who knew Jonny would describe him as a man with an uncontainable zest for life, unfathomable generosity, endless kindness. He was the guy who arrived in his truck when you were moving, helped you re-tile the bathroom, and picked you up at the airport. The word avid means to have a keen interest in or enthusiasm for something.
Jonny was avid — not merely an avid fisherman, runner, open water swimmer, or skier. He was all of those things. And he was also an avid father, uncle, and husband, and friend to anyone whose path intersected with his own.
He had two speeds. Off and Fast. Jonny attended Isidore Newman and was a member of the varsity basketball team.
He later graduated from Louisiana State University. Jonny married Becky Jardine in 1982; their son Ian was born in 1986, and Michael in 1989. Jonny spent childhood summers with his grandparents on the Mississippi coast, where he discovered a love of fishing and water sports.
At home in New Orleans, his playground was Audubon park. There he hunted squirrels with bow and arrow and caught snakes that he brought them home in shoe boxes. Jonny’s dog Sam was notorious in the neighborhood for chasing all who dared cycle by, and was also a clever robber of the bread trucks unloading at the neighborhood grocery stores, to the deep envy of other dog-owning friends.
Jonny also spent many hours at the home of neighbor Sterling Parkerson, who collected army jeeps and was instrumental in Jonny’s car tinkering phase. He had a sharp mechanical aptitude, and in his teens spent hours with one of his high school teachers working on cars, including their own VW Beetles that ran intermittently. Later on, friends also remember the disassembled pieces of an entire Morris Minor car in his living room.
He later reassembled the pieces — outdoors. Jonny’s first job after college was managing the service department at Service Engineering, a seller of pumps and compressors. He later became a contractor, renovating countless houses and apartment buildings in New Orleans between 1984 and 2000.
In the 2000’s he moved into property management, secured a brokers license, and converted many of those same apartment buildings into condomiums. In a woodworking accident, Jonny cut off the end of his left index finger. He later told children he had lost the finger sword-fighting in his earlier days as a pirate.
The pirate motif had legs. When a dentist proposed to put a ceramic crown on his tooth, Jonny demurred for pirate reasons and insisted on gold. He organized “pirate-tubing” with his sons: the boat pulling two tubes with the riders trying to knock each other off.
Jonny coached a wide range of youth sports: soccer, basketball, golden gloves. He routinely found other ways to help the youths that he coached: teaching them to drive, or hiring them into his business. Jonny was “a big kid and he loved kids — a father to those who didn’t have one”.
He taught countless kids how to ride their two wheelers. Jonny was athletic and fiercely competitive his entire life. After college, he ran several marathons and was an inspiration to other runners in Audubon Park.
He later became a serious triathlete and a founding member of the Audubon Triathlon Club. He swam across Bay St Louis several times – including the summer after his cancer diagnosis. Twice he served as the swim anchor on a relay team with his sons in the Escape From Alcatraz triathlon – swimming 1.
5 miles in 50-degree San Francisco Bay water with high surf. Jonny had the smile of one who seemed to think of life as a rather good joke, or a good yarn still in the making. The sight of Jonny’s white pickup truck anywhere signaled to anyone who knew him that a good time was near.
He made a great Sazerac, and served them to his training partners after a final winter swim in Lake Pontchartrain, preparing for Alcatraz. He enjoyed pranks, whether as giver or receiver. If a son could beat him in basketball or HORSE, the reward was a trip to Camelia Grill.
There, each secretively told the staff it was the other’s birthday and got them to sing. Week after week. One of Jonny’s comparatively rare REAL birthdays, a swimming friend persuaded the Tulane women’s swim team to surprise him with a birthday serenade at his swim lane.
He spent countless hours fishing in the Louisiana marsh and off of the Mississippi coast with his fishing buddies, and sometimes with the family dog, Bear. Jonny lit up his 65 years for everyone around him. When he would by chance encounter an old friend, he would flash his Jonny smile and chuckle with the instant memory of something fun from the past.
He always found the fun in everything he did. During his last 18 months, he routinely called friends to check on how THEY were doing. The way he faced and handled his illness was inspirational.
The face he showed the world defines dying with dignity. A smile on his face, interest and kind words for others, and lack of self-pity was a testament to his character and traits his family and friends will remember. A memorial service/celebration of life will be occur at a later date, still TBD.
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