On the evening of July 17, 2024, Jesse Thomas Perry Jr. passed away peacefully at his residence in Houston, Texas at the age of 88.  Jesse was born on a rice farm in Indian Bayou, La., a small farming community 16 miles southwest of Lafayette, where he spent his childhood.  He was a star athlete and excellent student earning All-State honors in basketball and graduating as Valedictorian at Indian Bayou High School in 1954.

Upon graduation, Jesse accepted a basketball scholarship to McNeese State College where he was a four-year letterman and played on its 1956 NAIA Championship Team.  In 1958, he graduated with a B.S. in Geology and received an ROTC commission as a 2nd Lieutenant.  Immediately after graduation, Jesse was assigned to the Army Signal Corps and spent his two-year tour in Fort Monmouth, N.J.  After his service tour was completed, Jesse returned to Louisiana and was hired as a Mud Engineer by May Brothers, a small drilling mud company in Eunice.  He quickly moved up the management ranks and became district manager when his company was bought by International Mineral and Chemical Company (IMCO) and later by Halliburton.  He rose within the Halliburton corporation and became the European Operations Manager based in England.  The Mud Division of Halliburton was sold to Dresser Magcobar and became M-I Drilling Fluids.  Jesse returned to Houston and retired several years later.  He then started his own company, which he maintained for several years until his final retirement.

Even in his later years, Jesse continued to play basketball, and when he returned to Houston, began playing with a team at the Houston Club in downtown Houston. In 1996, The Houston Club team won the Senior Olympics Gold Medal.

Those left to mourn his passing are his wife, Jan, and his two sons, Chan (Kathy) and Duane (Lisa); his sister, Dorothy Brown; his brothers, Gerald and Byron (Carolyn); his grandchildren, Jake Perry (Katelyn), Brittany Perry, Brooke Nugent (Barrett), and Bryna Crawford (Jacob); great-grandchildren, Audrey Perry, Bannon Nugent, Blake Nugent, Ruby Crawford, and numerous nieces and nephews.  He was preceded in death by his parents, Jesse T. (Bebo) Sr. and Dollie Spell Perry.

There will be a Memorial visitation to celebrate Jesse’s life in the Event Room at the Forest Park Westheimer Funeral Home, 12800 Westheimer Road, Houston, Texas on Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024 from 1 pm. to 4 p.m.  A graveside service and burial at the Indian Bayou Community Church Cemetery will be held at a later date.