Bobbie (Bob) Lee Caperton

Bobbie (Bob) Lee Caperton went home to Jesus on January 13, 2021 at the age 92, after succumbing to non-related COVID-19 health complications, attending his last Worship service here on earth the previous Sunday,.

Bob was born to William and Carrie Caperton on March 26, 1928 in Corpus Christi, Texas and as a child, Bob realized he was a sinner and that Jesus died for his sins and asked Jesus to come into his life as Savior at the age of 9.

Bob’s family moved about a lot, attending early high school at the consolidated school district of Pharr, San Juan and Alamo, then finishing his later high school years in Wichita, Kansas, where he excelled in tennis, making it to the state finals.

Bob met his wife, Joan in 1946 at North Park Baptist Church in Sherman, Texas. They married May 9, 1948 and went on to have 3 children, Joe Bob, Danny and Annie. They started life together in Sherman, doing electrical work and flooring, then moved to Fort Worth after Joe Bob was born, but was there only for about year before moving to Alvin, Texas to be a master electrician.

In early 1962, South Park Baptist voted to start a mission, so November 4, 1962, Chocolate Bayou Baptist Mission was started and Bob was assigned by the church to lead the new mission.  He had preached for the pastor on several occasions and the church showed confidence that the Lord could take his inabilities and use him. When the mission was formed into a church, South Park Baptist Church led in ordaining Bob to the Gospel ministry on November 24, 1963. During this time he owned Caperton Electric, being a bi-vocational minister and student. To further his religious education, Bob went back to college at Houston Baptist University and received his Bachelor of Arts degrees in Bible and Psychology in 1969, between the graduations of his sons’ high school graduation.

1974 was the year that impacted the rest of Bob and Joan’s lives. They answered a request to make a volunteer mission trip to Venezuela to do electrical work across the country and Joan was introduced to the small medical clinics. God showed them the needs beyond their small world here at home and this began their journey and call to foreign missions. It took about six years to prepare and meet the requirements of the Foreign Mission Board (FMB) of the Southern Baptist Convention. So in 1978 school begins again for Bob and Joan. Joan received a nursing degree at Alvin Community College and passed her state boards on March 21, 1978. Bob earned his Master of Divinity from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary on May 9, 1980.

In 1981, Bob resigned as pastor of Chocolate Bayou Baptist Church after serving there a little over nineteen years to accept the appointment of the Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board to be missionaries in Colombia, South America. 1982 is the year they start their journey by stopping off in Costa Rica for six months of language school, arriving in Columbia on October 30 of the same year.

While in Columbia, Bob pastored a couple of English Chapels in Barranquilla and the large Exxon coal mine in the Guajira, completed construction at the Baptist Hospital in Barranquilla. Joan worked around the hospital, the poor communities’ health clinics and medical needs of the volcanic destruction of Mt. Ruiz in the town of Amero. Bob’s ‘Water of Life’ ministry, funded by World Hunger Projects, started his drilling of water wells for the indigenous Guajira missions. During these activities already mentioned, Bob constructed the church buildings in Richacho, Maicao, and Poromano. Bob and Joan retired from the FMB in 1993 at the age of 65.

Moving back to the states, they settled in Rosenberg, Texas ministering with Sr. Adults at First Baptist Rosenberg. Also they had the is joy to supply preach, share missions at churches and camps, go on volunteer mission trips, such as Peru, Colombia, and annually to Mexico. After a few years, Bob and Joan moved to Houston, then finally to Webster, Texas in 2004. So at the age of 76, being the general contractor, he built his own home, doing most of the work himself. In 2005, Bob took the Pastorate position at The Terrace Chapel of the Brookdale Retirement Living Facility and retired again in August 2014, at the age of 86, when Joan became ill with Dementia.

In addition to being a dedicated and loving father, Bob also loved Pickle Ball and Forty-Two and was very competitive in whatever game he participated in. He played his last pickle ball game in January 2020. Throughout his entire life, he held an unwavering faith in God, which he shared with those who surrounded him.

Bob joins his wife and parents in Heaven. He is survived by his children Joe Bob and Mary Caperton, Danny and Jeanne Caperton, Annie and John Knape, 7 grandchildren, 14 Great grandchildren, and 6 Great-Great grandchildren.

Bob’s favorite hymn was To God be the Glory, Great Things He hath done1 To God be the glory, great things He hath done,So loved He the world that He gave us His Son,Who yielded His life our redemption to win,And opened the life-gate that all may go in.

Refrain: Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, Let the earth hear His voice;Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, Let the people rejoice;Oh, come to the Father, through Jesus the Son,And give Him the glory; great things He hath done.

2 Oh, perfect redemption, the purchase of blood,To every believer the promise of God;The vilest offender who truly believes,That moment from Jesus a pardon receives.

3 Great things He hath taught us, great things He hath done,And great our rejoicing through Jesus the Son;But purer, and higher, and greater will beOur wonder, our transport when Jesus we see.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering supporting international missions, at https://www.imb.org/lottie-moon-christmas-offering/.

There will not be a memorial service.