W. Wayne Houck
Memorial services will be held for former Lincoln Parish Sheriff W. Wayne Houck, age 83, at Temple Baptist Church in Ruston on April 8, 2022, at 2 p.m., officiated by Dr. Reggie Bridges and Pastor Jerry Whitman.
Interment will be at Harmony Chapel Church Cemetery in Hico, Louisiana, following the memorial service under the direction of Kilpatrick Funeral Home. The family will receive friends at the sanctuary of Temple Baptist Church, 1515 South Service Road West, Ruston, on April 7 from 5-7 p.m.
Wayne was born January 17, 1939, in Hico, to Willie Holland Houck and Merlene Doss Houck. He entered into Heaven on Wednesday, March 30, 2022, at Northern Louisiana Medical Center, in Ruston, following a sudden illness.
Wayne Houck was preceded in death by his parents, Willie Holland Houck and Merlene Doss Houck.
He is survived by his wife, Doyce Wilson Houck of Ruston; daughter, Teresa Houck Yelverton and husband Jack of Poway, California; son, Tracy Wayne Houck and wife Angela, of Dubach; and daughter, Amy Houck Sutton of Ruston; five grandchildren, Sara and Addison Yelverton, Lauren and Anna Houck, and Colter Sutton.
He was a native of Hico. Growing up on a farm, he learned early on what having responsibilities was all about. There, he developed a tireless work ethic. Wayne Houck attended Hico High School where he played basketball and baseball. The basketball team never won a state championship. However, they were extremely successful and even defeated Jackie Moreland’s team.
Houck saw the love of his life, Doyce Ann Wilson, for the first time as she was playing basketball at Lisbon High School. They later met, dated and married. They lived in Hico, on the family farm for several years. When they moved to Ruston, they lived in a small house just over the hump (railroad tracks) across from the business building at Louisiana Tech University.
Both Wayne and Doyce attended Louisiana Tech. Wayne Houck graduated from Louisiana Tech in 1963 with a degree in History. While in school, his financial situation forced him to find a job. This led to over four decades of service as a lawman in Lincoln Parish. He began his law enforcement career with the City of Ruston Police Department in 1963 for $300 a month.
He patrolled the streets of Ruston and walked beats in the city. While walking beats, the only way an officer knew to contact headquarters was because there were lights randomly stationed around the town. When they were illuminated, this signaled the patrolmen to contact headquarters due to possible trouble in the area. Because there was a shortage of officers, Cook Baptist Church had a light fixed in a back room.
The preacher, Brother H.B. Fuller could see this light and when it would come on, he would stop the service and tell Wayne he was needed. Houck was almost always on call and this was Brother Fuller’s fix so Wayne could go to church.
Wayne served, the City of Ruston, until 1965, when he was hired by Sheriff Jesse Riser as a Lincoln Parish deputy. He developed a reputation as a tireless and effective investigator. He completed the prestigious FBI National Academy at Quantico, Virginia, in 1971, one of only a handful of local officers to do so. In 1973, the Ruston Jaycees named him Outstanding Law Enforcement Officer of the Year.
In 1975, Wayne resigned from the sheriff’s office, not to run for sheriff but to support another candidate’s campaign. During the campaign, he had many people of the parish encouraging him by saying that he should run for sheriff himself and they would support him. It was at that time a seed was planted. In 1976, he returned to Ruston PD as an inspector in the Criminal Investigation Division. In 1979, Wayne ran unopposed for Lincoln Parish Sheriff and was elected.
He would be reelected five consecutive times, often with no opposition. He served 24 years as the parish’s top law enforcement officer and retired in 2004 with a total of 41 years of law enforcement service to the citizens of Ruston and Lincoln Parish.
He was the longest serving sheriff in Lincoln Parish’s 149-year history. During his tenure as Sheriff, he made many changes and initiated new efforts to help bring the department into the modern era. These changes included the first computers in the department. He started the DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program, appointing Deputy Mike Stone to head the new effort. The program was very successful and became the model DARE program in the state as well as other law enforcement agencies around the country.
Houck and Stone assisted many agencies by starting their DARE programs, both in and out of Louisiana. Houck spearheaded several changes to the sheriff’s office, including the unit’s first K-9, Bullet. Other firsts during his era were the TRIAD program, Neighborhood Watch and the Reserve Deputy Unit that began in 1980. Houck was responsible for the construction of the Lincoln Parish Detention Center, with the first prisoner booked there in October 1983.
He also brought the first narcotics division to the sheriff’s office and the first multi-district narcotics unit. Houck received his highest honor by his peers in being chosen as President of the Louisiana Sheriff’s Association. He enjoyed serving and working with every sheriff in the state and brought many of his ideas and values to the association.
Wayne and Doyce were members of Cook Baptist Church. Houck participated in several other organizations in the community, including Ruston Jaycees, Sunrise Kiwanis and many other state-wide organizations. Sheriff Houck had an open heart for all people in his community and maintained and open-door policy. He believed that all people deserved his time and commitment.
He loved everyone he encountered and believed that communicating with them in good and bad times was important. If anyone in the community wanted to talk, he was there for them regardless of who they were or where they lived. To him, each person was important. This love for others was demonstrated through his smile, his kindness, and the way in which only he could talk to people. When someone was having a bad experience, the Sheriff’s patience and calm demeaner helped them cope.
Not only was Wayne a lifetime lawman, but he was also a loving husband, father and grandfather. He loved his family and they loved him. His mere presence made everyone, especially those within his family, feel safe and sound.
His kindness and smile would light up any room. He loved his wife, Doyce, dearly and shared that love for 60 years. He loved his children and would constantly provide them with the best advice about life a father was equipped to give. He was always there for them no matter what.
Wayne especially loved Christmas, spending time at Hico every year in the very house in which he grew up and walking the land on the same paths he did as a child. He treasured his time having coffee with friends and solving all the country’s problems. He loved chewing his Red Man tobacco. He loved shooting his pistol. He competed on a pistol quick draw competition team while a deputy sheriff. His aim was perfected in Hico while shooting snakes, turtles, fence posts, and floating sticks. Most people did not know that Wayne had a silly side to him. But with his family, he had the most entertaining ways of livening up a room and making others smile with his shenanigans.
He was known for his “silly dance,” which he would do in front of Doyce to cheer her up along with other family members and it always worked. Wayne also had an uncanny ability to personify his least favorite political figures in the most colorful of words and nicknames. He was very protective of his family. Sometimes, if he heard a strange noise outside, he would take a light and his pistol and patrol endlessly until he located the bandit, many times it was a raccoon in the garbage cans. “Pop” loved his grandchildren and spending quality time with them.
He loved to fish, go on walks, attend ballets, ballgames, and horse barrel races with his grandchildren. They would often spend family time eating meals together and especially liked taking them to the family farm in Hico. He always took time to share with them his experiences of growing up. He intently kept up with everything the family did that made them smile and brought much comfort to them all.
“Well done, good and faithful servant!” Matthew 25:21
Pallbearers will be District Attorney John Belton, Joey Davidson, Tommy Doss, Dr. Gary Stokley, Stowie Sutton and Curtis Tubbs.
Honorary pallbearers will be Justice Joe Bleich, Lewis Jones, Skip Russell, Bill Smith, Chief Randal Hermes, Sheriff Mike Stone, Chief Steve Rogers, Judge Wayne Smith, Rev. Jerry Whitman, Sheriff Stephen Williams, former and current deputies of the Lincoln Parish Sheriff’s Office.
Planned memorials in honor of Wayne Houck can be made to Harmony Chapel Cemetery Association c/o Gene Foster, 2135 Hwy 545, Dubach, LA 71235. Online condolences may be sent to the family at www.kilpatrickfuneralhomes.com.
