John Flores Mansion Ruiz, Jr.

John Flores Mansion Ruiz, Jr. passed away peacefully in his sleep on February 26, 2013 in Weston, Florida. John had recently arrived in Florida and was planning to move into a new community next door to his daughter and her family so as to live closer to his family in the years to come. The evening before he passed away John spent his time visiting with his daughter and her family and was in good spirits about the next chapter of his life to come.

John was born on August 10, 1940 in New Orleans, Louisiana to Lucille Davis and John Flores Mansion Ruiz, the oldest son of a family of three sons and two daughters. John grew up with his parents, sisters and brothers; Marlene, Myrna, Alvarez, and Ronald and his very special heart was there from a very early age.

John had a paper route throwing papers from his bicycle many of the years growing up and he often told of the many very early mornings he had to throw his paper route whether he felt well or not, rain or shine (particularly rain in New Orleans). After finishing his paper route, John would tell of mixing himself a cup of “Bosco” flavored chocolate milk at home afterwards as a reward before heading off to a full day of school frequently walking his younger brothers and sister with him. John’s dedication, reliability and giving love towards his family and friends started young and never left him in all his days.

John loved to play and watch sports. His favorite sport was baseball and when John was a young boy he used to play stick ball in the street with his friends and brothers. Baseball was one of John’s passions throughout his life and he played through his university years as the starting third baseman on the varsity team.

Another passion of his life started in the summer of 1960, when John met a girl at a party who was visiting her grandparents in New Orleans from California named Lyndall Faustina. That Christmas, John had an extra Christmas card and his mother after observing this, told him to send the card to the nice girl from California that he had met in the summer. John did and Lyndall wrote him back (albeit with a letter addressed to his home address in New Orleans but with only his first name written on the envelope since she had forgotten his family name) and they struck up a correspondence. Lyndall returned to New Orleans for the summer of 1962 and they began dating and on August 10th, 1963 they were married in Los Angeles. Their first child, a daughter, Gina was born in April 1966. Their second child, a son, Jarrod was born in January 1968.

John was a caring and giving father to Gina and Jarrod and a loving husband to Lyndall all his days. A man who always knew the right words to say and the way to say them. Gina and Jarrod grew up with his love and example and he taught them to have an open heart and be honorable in all you do.

John lived these principles in his professional career as well. After the university, John worked for the Internal Revenue Service first in New Orleans as a revenue agent, then in California as a tax manager and through hard work his career continued to advance. John spent 32 years working for the Internal Revenue Service retiring in 1996. When he retired he was the Head of the Fraud and Narcotics division of the Tax Examination Division of the Internal Revenue Service for Orange County, California. John was very proud of his professional career and always used to have a big smile on his face when he told someone what organization he worked for and what he used to do for the Service. John was very proud to have assisted in helping to develop evidence later used in criminal and civil trials in the same fashion as Elliot Ness. During his professional career, John also went to law school at night and graduated with a law degree.

Once retired John took a position at the global accounting firm, KPMG, for two years as a specialist forensic auditor assisting clients with developing evidence case files for civil litigation. Once retired, John also took a part time position as an usher for the California Angels baseball team in Anaheim, California. John used to love "working the games" and looked forward to the spring and summer days and evenings that the Angels were at home playing at Anaheim stadium. In retirement, John was once again was able to enjoy his passion with baseball just as in his younger days.

John’s family lived in California until the year 2001 when John and Lyndall retired and moved to Sun City Anthem in Henderson, Nevada. John was a long-time member of the Billiards Club in Anthem where he was an officer, flight leader and a very active member of the Club. The Club members felt that they "could always count on John to help out whenever and wherever he was." That was John.

John’s wife of 49 years, Lyndall, passed away in September 2012 after undergoing open heart surgery from which she developed complications and never fully recovered. Lyndall was the love of John’s life and up until the day he passed away he was always in love with her with all his heart.

To all of John’s family and friends who loved him in the words of a family friend: “Do not cry, do not give way to despair, remember the laugh when I am dead. Forget, I pray you, the last moments, the pain moments, because we have lived of happiness. I want happiness to survive myself and last forever.”

John is survived by his daughter Gina and her husband Timothy, and their daughters Kira and Ripley. John is also survived by his son Jarrod and his wife Elena, and their daughter Alessandra.