Pathfinders carried flags down the aisle of the Lone Star Camp chapel as family, friends, and ministry colleagues gathered Aug. 17 to remember Héctor Pérez, a longtime camp ministry leader whose influence reached local congregations, summer camps, and youth ministries across North America.

Pérez died Aug. 14, 2026, following a heart attack. He was 62.

During the funeral, speakers repeatedly described Pérez as a servant, problem-solver, mentor, and friend—someone who worked tirelessly behind the scenes, rarely sought recognition, and had a gift for turning strangers into family.

“He only brought me solutions,” recalled Randall B. Terry, Texas Conference Treasurer, describing Pérez as someone who approached challenges with a positive spirit and a readiness to help.

That ability to solve problems became one of the defining characteristics of Pérez’s ministry. Whether he was helping improve a camp facility, mentoring a young worker, or responding to a practical need, friends said he had a way of finding a path forward, even when resources were limited.

But those who knew him best said Pérez’s greatest impact was not found in buildings or projects. It was found in people.

Christian Ponciano, Texas Conference Youth & Young Adult Ministries director, first met Pérez as a 16-year-old working around camp. Ponciano recalled that Pérez quickly identified him and his friends as “troublemakers,” young people who were always breaking something, getting into something, or finding another adventure. Still, Pérez trusted them. He gave them responsibilities, taught them how to work, and allowed them to grow.

Years later, Ponciano encountered Pérez again—this time as a pastor. Pérez responded with the same humor that had characterized their earlier relationship, joking about the former troublemaker now serving in ministry. Eventually, the two worked together in Texas Conference’s Youth & Young Adult Ministries. A teenager who once worked under Pérez’s supervision had become a ministry colleague, and Pérez took pride in what God had done through the years.

Ponciano told those gathered at the funeral that Pérez’s influence had become so deeply woven into Texas Conference youth ministry that there would be a “before Héctor and after Héctor.”

“There are people who laughed because of Héctor,” he said. “There are people whose ministry became possible because of Héctor.”

Pérez’s daughter said that his commitment to young people began long before camp ministry became his career.

Growing up, she remembered their home frequently filling with youth and young adults from church. Pérez invited people in, while his wife, Anabel, often found herself cooking for the crowd.

“He wanted it to be a place where people could eat, laugh, and be loved,” his daughter recalled.

What she once saw simply as her father constantly bringing people home, she later came to recognize as part of his calling. That calling eventually led Pérez into camp ministry, where he served at camps across the country before coming to Texas. At Lone Star Camp and Lake Whitney Ranch, his influence became particularly visible.

Pérez helped begin Cowboy and Biker Camp, a Southwestern Union ministry that combined his love for camp with an unconventional approach to reaching people. A special tribute to Pérez is planned during a future Cowboy and Biker Camp, as well as during the Southwestern Union Camporee.

Representatives from the North American Division (NAD) also recognized Pérez’s influence, noting that Pérez served for years alongside camp professionals from across the division and was respected for his practical knowledge, ingenuity, and willingness to help others succeed. Wendy Eberhardt, NAD vice president for ministries, described him as a leader with both “the heart of a servant leader” and “the hands and feet of a servant leader.”

NAD Youth & Young Adult Ministries Director Tracy Wood added that Pérez was known throughout the network of Adventist camp professionals for accomplishing what often seemed impossible, even with limited resources. “There is not another Héctor in North America,” he said.

Yet Pérez’s family offered glimpses of the man behind the ministry.

His daughter-in-law remembered meeting him while she was dating his son. During a visit to the family home, she heard a persistent chirping sound and asked about it. With a completely serious expression, Pérez told her birds were living inside the house. She believed him. Years later, when a smoke detector battery began chirping, she finally realized what the “birds” had actually been. “That was the way Héctor joked around,” she said. He could sound completely serious even when he was teasing.

She also remembered that Pérez rarely sat still. When he finally did, he sometimes fell asleep almost immediately. Once, while visiting the wranglers at a camp horse program, Pérez had been talking at the head of a table. His daughter-in-law stepped away briefly, continued speaking to him, and returned to discover him sitting upright—fast asleep.

Even vacations rarely slowed him down. Family members remembered Pérez remaining on the phone, checking on projects, planning events, and making sure camp work continued.

“He worked so hard,” his daughter-in-law said.

His son-in-law joked that even on a trip to Disneyland, Pérez probably would have found a way to keep working.

But family members said there was one group Pérez always made time for: his seven grandchildren. He took them to Chuck E. Cheese, Dairy Queen, and restaurants. He spoiled them, laughed with them, and let them follow him around camp. One grandson became such a constant companion that family members said there was rarely any question where the boy was during summer camp. He was with his grandfather. After Pérez died, another grandson cried and then asked who would take care of the camp. The question captured how closely Pérez’s grandchildren connected him with the ministry he loved.

His daughter, Draysbel Garcia, said Pérez’s care for others extended well beyond family. If someone needed food, furniture, an appliance, or practical help, he looked for a way to provide it—sometimes using his own money. “He didn’t do it for recognition,” she said. He simply saw a need and responded.

Pérez had suffered a heart attack before his death, and his Garcia described the additional days the family had with him as a gift. They were able to hold his hand, talk with him, pray over him, tell him they loved him, and say goodbye.

During her tribute, Garcia described her father’s life in terms of seeds—seeds of kindness, friendship, faith, service, and love planted in family members, young people, camps, and communities. “Some of those seeds are sitting here in this room today,” she said. Now, she added, it is the responsibility of those Pérez influenced to continue what he began: serving, helping, opening their homes and hearts, and pointing people toward God.

The service reflected that legacy from beginning to end.

Texas Conference Pathfinders opened the funeral with a color guard entrance. Throughout the service, youth ministry leaders, family members, camp professionals, and friends shared stories of Pérez’s humor, generosity, and faith.

Members of the Pila-Litea Telefoni Choral from Jefferson Christian Academy provided music, with several singers visibly fighting tears during the final selection.

Elton DeMoraes, Southwestern Union president, closed the service with prayer, thanking God for Pérez’s devotion to his family and his lifetime of service to others.

Then the Pathfinders returned for one final act of honor.

Adventurers, Pathfinders, and Master Guides were invited to stand as the Texas Conference Youth Ministries team offered a farewell salute to Pérez, a fellow Master Guide.

They honored his dedication, leadership, and service.

For the family, however, the farewell was not presented as the end. Again and again throughout the afternoon, speakers returned to the Adventist hope of Christ’s return and resurrection.

Pérez’s daughter called it not goodbye, but “goodbye for now.”

Until then, she said, his family intends to keep loving, keep serving, and keep living out the faith that shaped his life.

And in the camps, churches, ministries, and people Pérez touched, the work he began continues.