Father John Valdez was born in Slaton, Texas on December 4, 1961. He graduated from Southland High School in May of 1980. After graduation from WT in 1984, Fr. John was hired as a second grade teacher for Groom I.S.D.
In the fall of 1985, Fr. John entered Assumption Seminary in San Antonio, Texas where he received a Master of Divinity from Oblate School of Theology in 1991. His first assignment as parochial vicar was to the parish of St. Vincent de Paul in Pampa. In 1992 he was made pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Amarillo. He served that parish until the fall of 1997.
In August of 1997 he was appointed pastor of St. Vincent de Paul in Pampa, where he served as pastor until December of 2003. While in Pampa, Fr. John completed an M.A. in Christian Spirituality from Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska.
In January of 2004, Fr. John was named pastor of St. Anthony's in Hereford where he served until September 2013.
On October 1, 2013, he was named pastor of St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Amarillo.