John Wayne Allen, Jr.

John Wayne Allen, Jr., 47, passed away August 3, 2026. He was born February 6, 1979, in Leavenworth, Kansas, where he grew up before making his way to Hot Springs, Arkansas, in 2014—“all because two people fell in love.”

John was a graduate of the Food Jobs Work Culinary School and found a career that perfectly suited one of his greatest passions. He worked as a chef at Pleasant Valley Country Club in Little Rock, Arkansas. For John, cooking was much more than a job it was his love language. Preparing food was one of the ways he cared for people and showed them what they meant to him.

Above all John adored his daughter and treasured the people he called family. He had a big personality and a style all his own. He loved cars, liked his clothes and shoes to match, and enjoyed both making money and spending it. Those who knew him well will undoubtedly smile remembering one of his favorite responses: “You’re broke.”

John was also known for the sayings that became uniquely his. “Love you to the moon and back until the cows come home” was one of the ways he expressed just how deeply he cared. And those closest to him will surely remember hearing another unmistakably John phrase: “love you Tits.” They were words, jokes, and expressions that became part of the language of loving John and memories his family will carry with them.

John enjoyed watching Real Steel, his favorite movie, and was a fan of Andrew Tate. Whether he was cooking, talking about cars, putting together the perfect outfit, joking with someone he loved, or finding another way to make or spend a dollar. John lived life with a personality that was unmistakably his own.

John was preceded in death by his father, John Wayne Allen, Sr. and his stepson Quinton Ross.

He leaves behind to cherish his memory his life partner of more than 17 years, Melissa Lumley; children, Chandler Allen, Emily Allen, Shelby Allen, and Brandon King; siblings, Jennifer Allen, Carol Goodman, Karen Stephens and Becky Allen-Bridges; stepmother, Dianna Allen; and a host of extended family members and friends who loved John and will miss him always.

Services will be held Tuesday, August 18 at Smith-Benton Funeral Home, 322 N. Market Street in Benton, Arkansas, with visitation from 10:00-11:00 AM followed by memorial service, officiated by Pastor Robert Orren, at 11:00 AM.

John will be remembered for his humor, his cooking, his love of cars, his unmistakable sense of style, and most of all, for the love he had for the people who mattered most to him. His was a personality that could never quite be duplicated, and those who loved him will carry his sayings, his laughter, and his memory with them to the moon and back, until the cows come home. Words, jokes, and expressions that became part of the language of loving John and memories his family will carry with them.