Funeral services were held at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2025, at McKibben and Guinn Funeral Service in Grenada for John Taylor Laster, 81, of Duck Hill, who died on Saturday, Nov. 22, at his residence. Burial with military honors followed in Duck Hill Cemetery. The family received friends from 1 p.m. until service time on Wednesday, Nov. 26, at McKibben and Guinn.
Known as Johnny, Daddy, John John, Big’un, the Mailman and the Toyota Man, he was born on April 1, 1944, in Grenada, the son of the late Melvin Harris Laster and the late Frances Taylor Laster. His father, who was an Army soldier in Europe on that date, did not meet his son until Johnny was a 17-month-old toddler.
Except for a few years when the young family lived in Minter City in Leflore County, Duck Hill was home. Johnny made a profession of faith at the age of 12 at Eskridge Baptist Church. He later moved his membership to Duck Hill Baptist Church. As a straight-A student, he set the educational bar high for his four younger siblings. None matched his accomplishments, but their mother still loved them, although none got a special banana pudding on their birthday like the first-born did. Johnny graduated in the Binford High School Class of 1962, and attended Holmes Junior College in Goodman.
In 1964, he married Sara Jane Haynes, who was his childhood sweetheart. They settled in Duck Hill, raised two daughters, and were married for almost 55 years before Sara died in 2019.
The Vietnam War separated the family as Johnny served with the 173rd Petroleum Company of Greenwood. The 173rd was stationed in the Phu Bai-Hue area of Vietnam from late 1968 until Aug. 5, 1969. After returning home, the GI Bill helped him earn a bachelor’s degree in business administration from then-Delta State College.
“Now I can take my diploma and a quarter and get a cup of coffee anywhere,” he would say.
Johnny ended up with the United States Postal Service, working in Duck Hill and Holcomb, before retiring after 42 years. Folks along his routes became lifelong friends. It was during the early days of his mail delivery that he discovered and came to love small Toyota pickup trucks — no more “Fix Or Repair Daily” or “Found On Road Dead.” He bought and sold 35 Toyotas over the years, and they were detailed and displayed in a scrapbook.
Johnny was a dedicated member and senior vice commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Warren E. Campbell Post 4488 in Grenada.
In addition to his parents and wife, his brother, Larry Laster of Hernando, preceded Johnny in death.
Survivors include, his daughters, Angie Lancaster and her husband, Jeff, of Duck Hill, and Dawn Traugott and her husband, Allan, of Grenada; brother, Robert Gary Laster and wife, Susan, of Duck Hill; his sisters, Nannette Laster of Grenada and Melba Rodgers and her husband, Thomas, of Duck Hill; three grandsons, Brandon Vance of Cleveland; Chase Lancaster and his wife, Kelcy, of Duck Hill and Cody Lancaster and his wife, Myranda, of Duck Hill; granddaughter, Bailey Traugott of Starkville; great grandchildren, Ella Vance of Cleveland and Ada Lancaster and Luke Lancaster of Duck Hill; a special family friend and coffee drinking buddy, Teresa Vance, and an extended family of in-laws, nieces and nephews.
Online condolences can be expressed to the family at www.mckibbenandguinn.com
McKibben and Guinn Funeral Service in Grenada was in charge of arrangements.
