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John  Earl  Schwope, Jr.
March 11, 1969 -  January 6, 2025

John E. “Sundog” Schwope, Jr., 55

John passed away on Monday, January 6th, 2025 at home after battling lung cancer for 5 years.
Proceeded in death by Parents, Elaine and Robert Galindo, John E Schwope Sr.; beloved Dog, Keeley. Survived by loving Wife of 25 years, Mary Lou “Ringo” Schwope; Sons, Matthew Schwope (Ren Atherholt) and Justin Schwope (Kassi Lee); Grandson, Tristan Schwope; Step Mother, Patsy Schwope; Brother, Jason (Stephanie) Schwope and several nieces and nephews.

John was born in San Diego, California in 1969. He moved to Nebraska and in 1998 met the love of his life Mary Lou on a CB Radio. John’s CB alias was Sundog and Mary Lou’s was Ringo. Sundog and Ringo married on March 20th, 1999 in Las Vegas, Nevada at The Chapel of The Bells. To their surprise, 14 months later they welcomed their baby boy Matthew to their family. A few years later they bought a house in Bellevue where John lived for the remainder of his life.

John was elected as a member of the NRD board for 2 terms, but his career of choice was driving a semi truck, he loved to just get into his truck blast his tunes and head on down the highway. He had a love of music and even worked as a DJ in his younger years. John often spent his free time listening to music and watching music videos. Among his favorite bands were Sundogs, The Eagles, Tool and Iron Maiden; he even had multiple tattoos of Eddie from Iron Maiden and another one in the planning stages. Over the years John and Mary Lou watched many movies and TV shows. Some of his favorite movies were Robin Hood Men in Tights and The Underworld series. A few TV shows that he enjoyed were Dateline, The Blacklist and Fallout. He loved Fallout so much he watched it upwards of 5 times! John really enjoyed watching football and was elated to be able to go to a Huskers game with his son Justin. John liked the Huskers but his devotion was to the San Diego Chargers, he even had a room in the house filled with collected memorabilia. He also enjoyed the time he spent with his son Matthew playing video games, going to the shooting range or having deep conversations about the world.

John was known to be “matter of fact” and sometimes he spoke before he thought. His mother used to tell him to check his mouth at the door. John could be very particular, he knew what he liked. He only chewed Extra peppermint gum and his breakfasts had to include a large glass of milk. He also knew what he didn’t like, for example water. John's preferred method of getting water was in the form of soda. John never left the house without his bottle of Pepsi or Mountain Dew and a pack of Extra peppermint chewing gum in hand.

John was great with computers, he was the hardware king and Mary Lou was the software queen. He had to have the latest and greatest hardware, always fine tuning and updating it to be on the cutting edge of technology. He loved to read! It didn’t matter if it was the news to keep up on current events, the junk mail on the table, or the back of a cereal box. If it had words on it he was reading it. Much like the other men in the family, John enjoyed golfing. However, one early morning he went with his son Justin and on the 2nd hole broke his leg in 3 places. As the story goes he almost had a hole in one. Needless to say Mary Lou banned him from ever golfing again without golf shoes.

There was another time where John and his son Justin were at a car lot looking for a new truck and Mary Lou was home with their newborn son Matthew. They took a truck for a test drive and Justin said “Dad this truck is awesome, you should get it!” So, John did, however, after he brought it home and showed Mary Lou, reality hit that it was not a vehicle that was going to work with a new baby because the back seat was a side seat and you couldn’t put the car seat on it. So now John accompanied by Mary Lou drove the truck back and left the car lot with his new Ford F150 with a normal back seat. 16 years later Matthew would move from the back seat to the driver seat and become the trucks new owner.

Airplanes fascinated John and he loved to fly. Not only as a passenger but also as a pilot when he played flight simulators. Through the years John, Mary Lou and Matthew took several trips together to Tulsa, Washington DC, Los Angeles and Fort Walton Beach. Once Matthew was old enough to fend for himself, John and Mary Lou took trips as a couple to Mall of America (Bloomington), Laughlin, Reno and Yuma.

John played many games, ate lots of food, shared tons of laughs, shed some tears and created countless memories with his family over the years. He never gave up on fighting his battle with cancer and often said he wouldn’t want anyone besides his wife Mary Lou by his side. John loved his family and they loved him. He touched the hearts of so many people during his life. Mere words can never describe the size of hole left in our hearts and how much John will be missed.