Pastor William "Bill" Derrick

William ‘Bill’ Derrick, known by many as ‘Pastor Derrick,’ died Sunday, August 18, 2024, at Bec’s Blessing in Giddings, Texas, after a years-long battle with congestive heart failure. He was 84.

A lifelong and proud Texan, Bill was born not in Texas, but in Hobbs, New Mexico, to Erwin Aaron and Allyne Louise Prenzler Derrick. He was baptized in Texas at St. John United Church of Christ in Burton, on September 29, 1940. He lived in the Texas towns of Monahans, Andrews, Texas City, and Kingsville as a young child, and survived both polio and the Texas City explosion before moving to La Marque, Texas, where he spent most of his childhood.

Bill was La Marque High School student council president, and voted Most Likely to Succeed, Best Personality, Best All-Around, and Friendliest, and that was just his senior year. Unfortunately for his father, who was himself a great ball player, Bill proved to be rather incompetent with a bat and ball, but he did find his place in sports as the beloved manager for the La Marque High School football team. He was so good at it that had his own cheering squad at football games.

Bill graduated from La Marque High School in 1958 and moved on to Texas Lutheran College, where he began his journey to become a Lutheran pastor. After graduating from TLC in 1962, Bill drove his VW bug to Wartburg Seminary in Dubuque, Iowa. He graduated in 1966 and booked it back to Texas having spent four winters being extremely cold. Bill was ordained at his home congregation, Trinity Lutheran Church, La Marque, on June 19, 1966, making his mother very, very proud. Pastor Derrick then went on to serve St. John Lutheran Church, Robstown, from 1966-72, Abiding Savior Lutheran Church, Houston from 1972-78 and finally to Salem Lutheran Church of Brenham from 1978 to his retirement in December 2005.

It was in Robstown that Bill met the love of his life, Rosemary Totter, who was a beauty and a transplant from New York, and who was also very smart, having conveniently placed herself in the front pew during Sunday services. They married on June 19, 1971, at St. John Lutheran Church, Robstown, TX., and in quick succession had two children, Julyne and Jason. Bill and Ro also welcomed into their Houston, Texas, home many foster sons and daughters, and one very special exchange student, Karsten Luethke of Germany, whom Dad referred to as his ‘first son,’ and who would remain in Bill’s life for more than 50 years, until his own life ended from cancer in 2023.

Bill loved singing since he was a child. He sang in the choirs at La Marque High School, Texas Lutheran College, and at Wartburg Seminary. Bill also sang in the Brenham Chorale for many years and he was beloved for singing ‘O Holy Night’ every Christmas Eve at Salem Lutheran in Brenham. He was one of several area pastors who, in 1985, helped found Brenham’s Faith Mission, an ecumenical, non-profit that serves the homeless.

Long before his own kids got into scouts, Bill was a cubmaster and scoutmaster in Pack and Troop 636 in Houston and cubmaster of Pack 74 in Brenham. He also founded a scout troop after he retired and settled in the Burton area. When his son Jason was in elementary school, Bill was one of several parents who helped start the youth soccer program in Brenham. Later, the league needed a referee, so he started training, running three times a week around the Brenham High School track. As an avid Brenham Cub Sports Fan, he could be heard in the stands ringing the cowbell showing his support. He was a lifelong runner, having taken up the sport in his 30s after his dad had coronary bypass surgery. Fitness and healthy eating were a lifelong passion of Bill’s, who strived to live a long, healthy life.

Bill was named Washington County Man of the Year in 2006. He loved the Astros, his grandkids, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, the Democratic Party, and perhaps most of all, card games and dominoes, especially 88, Bridge, Gin Rummy, Pinochle, and the game ‘Oh S***,’ which he taught to his fellow students at the Texas School for the Blind in Austin.

A couple years after he retired from Salem, Bill had a stroke that blinded him in his eye. He’d had a previous stroke 10 years before that blinded him in his other eye. He attended the School for the Blind, where he learned how to live with his blindness with humor and grace, and where he met many dear friends, including his roommate Ken Gwyn, who was the only 75-year-old blind person Bill knew who made it a hobby to jump out of airplanes.

Bill is preceded in death by his parents Erwin and Allyne; his wife Rosemary ‘Ro’; two infant sisters, Betty Anne and Baby Derrick; and a host of dear family members and friends, all of whom we imagine were gathered to excitedly greet him as he joined them in Heaven.

He is survived by his daughter Julyne and husband Nick, and grandson William ‘Parker’ Siewert; son Jason and granddaughter Kerrigan, and Jason’s partner Jennifer Wright and her daughters Jenna and Jada Dechant; nephew Kevin Rausch, and nieces Catherine Keenan and Tara Hermanowski; and many grandnieces and grandnephews.

Pallbearers are Rebecca and Ray Hooks, Kevin Rausch, Chris Jackson, James Naegeli, and Al Cardenas, his beloved caregiver of 13 years.

Honorary pallbearers are Kenneth Moerbe, Charles Parnell, Gary and Kerri Veit, Lynn and Glenda Pieper, Mark and Jane Crocker, Justine Morton, Carolyn Jones, and employees of Bec's Blessings


Visitation will be on Friday, August 23rd at Brenham Memorial Chapel with family present from 5-7pm.

Services will be on Saturday, August 24th, 11:00am at Martin Luther Lutheran Church in Carmine, TX, with burial in Oak Hill Cemetery in Burton, TX.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Martin Luther Lutheran Church in Carmine, Grace Lutheran Church in Giddings, and the Pastor William and Rosemary Derrick Endowed Scholarship at Lutheran Foundation of the Southwest Lutheran Foundation of the Southwest at www.lfsw.org

Services are in the care of Brenham Memorial Chapel, 2300 Stringer St., Brenham, TX 77833. 979.836.3611 Memories may be shared at www.BrenhamMemorialChapel.com.