Roger Don Hooten

The story of Roger started out in Point Texas. His parents Ferris Roger and Cleo Pauline (Plumber) and his older brother Tommy were all part of instilling a strong work ethic in him. He spent his days as a baby and toddler being pulled on a burlap sack behind his mom as she pulled cotton bolls. He would later pull many a cotton boll himself as one of his jobs he held growing up. With the money he earned, he would go to Ray’s Hardware in Point and purchase two shotgun shells at a time. Ray was nice enough to keep an open box for Roger allowing him to buy individual shells since he could not afford to purchase the whole box. His brother Tommy would reload the shells for him to use again. This would feed what would become one of his greatest passions. Hunting! 

Roger graduated from Rains High School where he met Shirley Nell Rice. He and Shirley were married on June 5, 1970. They lived in Greenville, Texas where he worked while attending his senior year at East Texas State University where he obtained a degree in Business with an emphasis in Accounting. He worked for the Hunt County HWY Department during that time. After graduation, the couple moved to Dallas where Roger worked at Atlantic Richfield Oil Company. He opened his bookkeeping tax service in Dallas in 1972 and moved back to Rains County in 1986 where he had established the accounting business during his time in Dallas. He continued in the accounting industry growing and expanding throughout East Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas as a franchisee throughout his career which has surpassed him.

Roger and Shirley had 4 children. Sons, Nathaniel Roger and Jonathan (deceased), and twin daughters, Brooke Paige and Morgan Paige (Jerry). One of Roger’s greatest joys in life was being Papa! Nathaniel and Pam gave him two beautiful granddaughters, Meredith Noelle and Ashland Natalie. Corey and Morgan gave him two handsome twin grandsons, Randall “Cage” and Roger “Colt” Jerry. Roger was always thrilled to take them to the University of Texas Longhorn’s football games, a tradition he and Nathaniel started in the mid-1980s. Taking his grandchildren on great adventures from hunting whitetail in Rains County, touring the great Alaskan wilderness, to hunting plains game in Africa was at his core pure joy.

Though Roger grew up with extremely humble beginnings, he would go on to do great things considered far outside his means. A quote he was known to say often was, “God, Family, Work.” He lived by this saying. He did add in a good dose of play…aka HUNTING…after work. He became a world traveler and international hunter. He was blessed to take more than 150 species across the world. His passion for hunting fed his endless appetite for adventure and thousands of people who ate well from the harvests. He traveled to all seven continents and was able to hunt on six of them. Antarctica is particular about their penguins…No hunting there! He was able to continue the tradition of international hunting with his children and grandchildren. He was a God-fearing Christian man who lived his life to the end telling others about Christ. He was a member of Emory Baptist Church. He never went on a hunting trip without extra Bibles to leave with individuals around the world he was able to witness to.

Roger was preceded in death by his unborn son Jonathan, his parents, Ferris Roger and Cleo Pauline Hooten, and his brother Tommy Plummer.

 He is survived by his wife of 54 years, Shirley Nell Hooten (Rice), son, Nathaniel Roger Hooten (Pam), and twin daughters, Brooke Paige Hooten & Morgan Paige Jerry (Corey). Grandchildren, Meredith Noelle Hooten, Ashland Natalie Hooten, Randall “Cage” Jerry, and Roger “Colt” Jerry. And, many family members, loved ones, and friends.

Visitation will be at Wilson-Orwosky Chapel in Emory, Texas on Tuesday, November 12, 2024 from 6 pm - 8 pm. The service will be held at Emory Baptist Church, where Roger was a member, on Wednesday, November 13, 2024, at 10 am. Interment will be at Lone Star Cemetery in Point, Texas directly after the service. In lieu of flowers, Roger requested donations be made to the Family Life Center fund online at Emory Baptist Church.