Jon Allen Waters

Jon Allen Waters, an incredible master carpenter with a remarkably creative and sensitive soul passed away peacefully on July 24, 2025 at the age of 72, following a courageous battle with chronic myelomonocytic leukemia and other health issues.

Up to the point where he could barely walk, he courageously and adamantly wanted to do what he routinely did and mowed the lawn when he shouldn’t have, but he was trooper to his last breath.

He was born on January 22,1953 in Greenville, SC to Roy Allen Waters and Anna Rose Tolbert Waters.

Jon lived his life with a silly sense of eye-rolling humor and a love of building and remodeling homes to include his own home. His building prowess was first realized when he was very young where he ventured to a construction site and decided it would be a good idea to take the cinder blocks that were strategically stacked to build a home and started pulling them down to form the foundation for ‘his’ home. That didn’t go over well with the construction company who ratted on him and after a good finger wagging, his dad made him pick up every cinder block and stack them back up as they originally were.

Jon also built custom-designed furniture pieces and a treehouse at home that was big enough to be a guest room, to include a crow’s nest that over-looked the property. He was a jack of all trades in the fixing and repairing department, but not so much in the mechanical trade which caused serious cursing frustration when he couldn’t figure out the pesky details of an engine and begrudgingly called on his long-time friend and coworker to ask for advice.

Jon enjoyed taking his grandchildren on hay rides behind the lawn tractor going in circles in the yard and down the non-state maintained bumpy road to the paved road to wave at neighbors. He also had a love of all the family dogs throughout the years, particularly Kelso, the first rescued Great Pyrenees who was his constant companion, sitting shotgun with him in his van on rides to the Giant grocery store and Home Depot.

Jon was an all-around party animal who loved to barbeque for numerous home fourth of July parties and setting off less than legal crowd-pleasing fireworks. He was a rock and roll fan and would listen to his music as loud as possible where the wildlife and neighbors could hear it a mile away. Jon was an avid vegetable gardener and grew enough vegetables to feed a neighborhood, and he ended up giving a lot of them away to family and friends after the roadside selling booth didn’t go over too well.

Jon was a beloved and fun father enjoying taking his son’s fishing at Marine Corps Base Quantico’s Lake Lunga, sometimes with an unknown hole in the canoe and usually not catching any fish himself, but his son’s did. He loved the beach and would shore or pier fish with his sons at Nags Head, NC.

He and his wife coached their 5 year old son, Colt for one soccer season (thank goodness) since neither one had a clue how to play soccer, much less coach it. He loved going to his son's baseball, basketball, roller hockey and particularly soccer games, and many times would yell out at high school soccer games, ‘just a little tappy, tap, tap’ when goals were over-kicked. He was always trying to make people laugh.

Jon is survived by his wife, Denise Cooper-Waters; sons, Ian Zachary (Nikki Ritner Waters) and J. Colton Waters; granddaughter, Finley Aspen; and grandson, Cayson Kane.

He is also survived by his step-mother, Pat Waters; brothers, Kerry Waters (Kathy) and Keith Waters (Tracy); sisters, Cherry Waters, Cindy Amann and Lori Winters (Dale), and numerous nieces and nephews.

A visitation for Jon will be held Saturday, September 13, 2025 from 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM at Mullins & Thompson Funeral Service, 186 Shelton Shop Rd, Stafford, Virginia 22554, followed by a celebration of life at 3:00 PM.

In lieu of flowers, the family encourages donations in Jon’s honor to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) www.lls.org