Leslie Edward Breeding, 84, died Tuesday, May 1, 2018, at his home in Oxford. The funeral service will be held Saturday, May 5, 2018, at 2 p.m. in the Chapel of Waller Funeral Home with Rev. Robert Allen officiating. Burial will follow at Oxford Memorial Cemetery. Visitation will be held prior to the service beginning at noon.

Born in Locust, Missouri, to the late Leslie Edward and Vella Marie Sowards Breeding, Mr. Breeding grew up in the Ozarks of Missouri, graduating from West Plains, Missouri, high school in 1951 and the University of Missouri in 1955.

Immediately following college, he enlisted in the United States Navy and began active duty, completing Office Candidacy School and being commissioned as an officer in January 1956. His greatest accomplishment in the Navy was completing Navy flight training school, receiving his wings in 1957.

He had the privilege of serving as a Navy pilot for 24 years, in various places, aircraft and carriers throughout the Atlantic and Pacific regions. He retired from military life on March 1, 1979, while assigned to the Navy ROTC at Ole Miss. His days of flying continued as a civilian pilot, mainly from Memphis and North Mississippi area airports. He celebrated over 60 years of flying and logged more than 27,000 flight hours.

He always remarked that, “Once he started flying, he never worked another day in his life.” Mr. Breeding was a member of First Baptist Church, Oxford, and a former member of the Lions Club.

Along with his parents, he was preceded in death by his daughter, Edna Elizabeth Hoyt.    

Survivors include his wife, Jane Catledge Breeding of Oxford; daughters, Lacey Marie Sloan and her husband, Ibrahim Zahoor, Samantha Kay Breeding and Virginia Jane Moore and her husband, Greg, all of Oxford; sons, Leslie Edward Breeding, III and his wife, Jennie of Aurora, Missouri, Mark Catledge Jackson and his wife, Laura of Lexington, Massachusetts and John Allen Breeding of Nashville; eight grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.

Memorial contributions in Mr. Breeding’s memory may be made to First Baptist Church, 800 Van Buren Ave., Oxford, MS 38655.

For further information, you may visit www.wallerfuneralhome.com or call 662.234.7971.