John Leslie Moore Jr was born on March 22, 1975, in Garberville, California, to father John Moore Sr of Garberville, CA, mother Claudette Robertson of Bethany, OK, and older brother Dr. James H. Moore of Eureka, CA.
From an early age, Johnny loved to draw, and in 1998, he graduated from California State University, Fresno with a Bachelor of Arts degree. After college, John worked in the hospitality, construction, and transportation industries. In 2010, he relocated to Oklahoma City and settled in as an Uber driver. Johnny was an artist, so driving fit his need for a flexible schedule and gave him more time for his art. His most recent painting, “Plains Warrior,” was not quite finished. John also worked as an extra in a barroom scene in one of the first episodes of “Tulsa King.”
In late March, John started feeling bad without knowing why. On April 7, 2026, he began to experience severe pain. After driving himself to Mercy Hospital in Oklahoma City, John fell in the parking lot, unable to walk. With the help of strangers, he was lifted into a wheelchair and checked into the emergency room. A few days later, John was transferred by ambulance to the Oncology Ward at OU Medical Center, where he was diagnosed with kidney cancer. Three weeks later, the doctors removed the cancerous kidney and told us John could go home in about a week. But one week later, in the morning of May 7, 2026, John’s heart stopped, and he could not be revived.
John was raised in the church and was born again at age nine. Although in later years, John went in a different direction, we know that God is merciful and He spared John the continued pain and suffering he would have felt with failing kidneys. Johnny was a Creek citizen and a direct descendant of Colonel William Robison and grandson of the late Zelma Mae Robison of Weleetka and Claude J. Robertson, Chickasaw. Johnny will be missed by loving family members from Alaska, Oregon, California, Georgia, Florida, and Oklahoma. The family wishes to thank the Muscogee Nation for their assistance with the burial program and memorial service.
