Longtime Houston Constable, Minister, and Community Advocate Dies at 74
A Life of Service, Advocacy, and Public Leadership
Houston, Texas…. Perry L. Wooten Jr. a longtime and influential voice in Houston’s civic and faith communities, Harris County Constable, ordained minister, founding chairman of the Afro- American Sheriff’s Deputy League, community radio host, NAACP advocate, and published author passed away on May 1, 2026, at the age of 74.
His home-going celebration will be held on Friday, May 15, 2026, at Mt. Hebron Missionary Baptist Church, 7817 Calhoun Road, Houston, Texas 77033. Viewing begins at 9:00 AM. The service begins at 10:00 AM, officiated by Dr. Max A. Miller Jr., Pastor.
Early Life and Resilience
Perry L. Wooten Jr. was born on January 10, 1952, in Tomball, Texas, to Perry Wooten Sr. and Ethel Mae Wooten. He attended Tomball High School, where he distinguished himself as a standout football player, earning all-district honors on both offense and defense for three consecutive years. He went on to attend Texas Lutheran College.
As a young man, he survived a near-fatal shooting that profoundly shaped his sense of faith, purpose, and service. He emerged from that experience with clarity about who he was and what he was put on this earth to do, and he spent the rest of his life doing it.
The Badge and the Fight Behind It
Perry Wooten joined the Harris County Sheriff’s Department and served as a deputy for many years before serving as an investigator for the Harris County Attorney’s Office. Service, for Perry Wooten, was never passive.
He became one of the founding members and Chairman of the Board of the Afro-American Sheriff’s Deputy League, an organization that existed to ensure Black officers were treated with
the same dignity the badge was meant to represent. Under his leadership, the League filed a class- action discrimination lawsuit against the Harris County Sheriff’s Department. He named injustice publicly, put his name on it, and fought.
His law enforcement career brought him into security assignments involving national political leadership, including President Bill Clinton, a reflection of the trust and caliber he carried throughout his career.
He later ran for Constable of Harris County, and the community he had spent decades protecting elected him. Public life tested him in many ways he never saw coming. He did not fold. He held. And in holding, he remained committed to the people who knew him best and trusted him most.
A Voice, a Platform, a Pulpit
Perry Wooten never waited for permission to speak. He hosted Survival Tracks, a community talk show on KYOK AM 1590, broadcasting Sunday nights and bringing conversations about justice, community, and survival directly into Houston homes.
He was an active member of the NAACP throughout his life, committed to the broader movement for civil rights and community equity. In 2021, he published his memoir, a testament to his belief that his story, in all its complexity and resilience, was worth telling in full.
In 2011, he was ordained into ministry and found his spiritual home at Mt. Hebron Missionary Baptist Church where he served faithfully under the late Rev. Dr. Johnnie J. Roberson, the church’s founder and one of Houston’s most distinguished spiritual and civic leaders, and continued serving under Dr. Roberson’s nephew, Dr. Max A. Miller Jr. Two generations of pastoral leadership. One man who never left.
What He Leaves Behind
Perry Wooten is survived by his daughters, Aris Wooten and Blaise Nash; his son-in-law, Brandon Nash; his grandchildren, Edward “Edge” Hamb III, Sage Nash, and Bryer Nash; his former wife, Janelle Wooten James; and his siblings, Mozell Satcherwhite and James Wooten. His parents, Perry Wooten Sr. and Ethel Mae Wooten, and his siblings Joyce, Evelyn, Leonard, and Ernest, preceded him in death.
Those who knew Perry Wooten will tell you that his most important credential was never the one on an official document. It was the way he treated people. The way he stayed through the hard times and the good ones, loyal to his God, his calling, and the community that shaped him. Public life tested him in ways many never saw. He did not fold. He held.
For decades, Perry Wooten occupied a visible place in Houston’s civic, faith, and community landscape, a presence recognized across courtrooms, churches, radio airwaves, and neighborhood conversations alike.
“The fingerprints of a faithful man do not fade.”
