Koecadee Melton Jr

Koecadee Melton, Jr., 65, of Kendleton, Fort Bend County, Texas, passed away on Friday, April 29, 2022.

A Celebration of Life Service was held on Saturday, May 7, 2022, at 1 p.m., at Little Zion Missionary Batist Church, 13230 Battle Road, Kendleton, Texas. Interment was in Powell Point Cemetery, 13720 Burnett Road, Beasley, Texas. Arrangements are entrusted to Warford Mortuary, 509 North Hughes Street, Amarillo, Texas.

He was born in Madisonville, Madison County, Texas, to Koecadee and Frances Reynolds Melton, Sr.

Koecadee graduated from Jefferson High School, in Jefferson, Texas, in the Class of 1974. He volunteered to serve in the United States Army Infantry from 1975 to 1977. He served with the 1st Cavalry Division of Fort Hood, Texas, temporary Tour of Duty (TDY) from Fort Hood, Texas, with the 1st and 12th Calvary in Wilflingen, the Federal Republic of Germany, and the 2nd Division, 1st and 38th Infantry, Camp Casey, Republic of South Korea.

He attended Prairie View A&M University, in Prairie View, Texas, and earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in agriculture education with a minor in agriculture economics at Texas A&M University, at College Station, Texas, in 1981. Koecadee began his professional career in 1983 as an agriculture inspector with the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) in Corsicana, Texas, and Mexia, Texas, serving under Jim Hightower, the Commissioner of Agriculture.

Koecadee was called to the ministry in 1986, and left the Texas Department of Agriculture to attend Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, in Fort Worth, Texas, earning a Master of Divinity degree. He served at Mount Zion Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas, as special assistant pastor, under the leadership of Pastor L. B. George Koecadee, the Founder of “Let God Fight Your Battles,” Inc., a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. His first sermon was “God Plan and Man’s Will–When We Said I Will,” Exodus, Chapter 14, Verses 13 and 14. 

Koecadee’s public service continued at the following government agencies and private companies: Texas General Land Office/Veterans Land Board, in Dallas, Texas, and Austin, Texas, as loan officer and outreach serving under Gary Mauro, Commissioner, Texas Department of Criminal Justice–Institutional Division in Palestine, Texas, as Agriculture Boss Edible Crops serving under Tom Fordyce, Director of Agriculture, Texas Commission of Environmental Quality in Houston, Texas, and Beaumont, Texas, as environmental investigator public drinking water, the United States Army, directorate of environment and safety, Fort Riley, Kansas, as environmental protection specialist, Texas Structural Pest Control Board, Houston, Texas, and Kendleton, Texas, as investigator, Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR), Logistics Civil Augmentation Program III (LOGCAP III)–Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), in the Land of Ur, the Republic of Iraq as senior environmental technician lead, White House Presidential Personnel Office of Obama-Biden Administration offered Schedule A Term assignment with the United States Army Corp of Engineering (USACE) as environmental protection specialist, in Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), in Kabul, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, DynCorp International–LOGCAP IV-Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), in Kabul, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan as quality, health, safety and environmental (QHSE) inspector, Department of Veterans Affairs, Michael E. DeBakey Veteran Affairs Medical Center (MEDVAMC) as environmental management specialist/janitor, Pacific Architects and Engineers (PAE)-Clinical and Non-Clinical Management of Ebola Treatment Units (CNMETU), Republic of Liberia, Africa, and retired at last in October 2015, from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Forest Service, Flatwoods Job Corp Civilian Conservation Center, Coeburn, Virginia, as a safety and occupational health specialist.

Koecadee’s interest in Texas politics and civil rights went back to his great uncle, Willie Melton, who led the fight to the United States Supreme Court in Terry v. Adams, the famous case of “The Jay Birds of Fort Bend County,” which did not allow African Americans to vote in the primary election. In 1953, the United States Supreme Court heard arguments and upheld the original judgment of Terry v. Adams giving African Americans in the United States the right to vote in the primary election, in Texas and other states. These victories were the precursor and catalyst for “The Voter Rights Act of 1965.”

The Texas Coalition of Black Democrats (TCBD) was created in 1979, by Mrs. Deralyn Davis, President Emeritus, Fort Worth, Texas, and Koecadee Melton, Jr., became a member as a senior at Texas A&M University in 1980. Koecadee was elected on September 4, 1999, and re-elected on August 11, 2001, as vice president of membership of the TCBD, serving under the leadership of President Morris L. Overstreet. Koecadee was a candidate for the Democratic National Committee (DNC) at the Texas Democratic Party–Convention in 2000. Koecadee was a candidate for the Texas Agriculture Commissioner in the 2006 Primary, winning 30% of the Texas vote while serving in LOGCAP III, in a war zone, Republic of Iraq.

He is preceded in death by his parents, a brother Kirk Melton, and a sister, Felecia Rena Melton.

Kocadee is survived by his son Donald Ray Melton, of Houston, Texas, a sister, Cathy Shea Harrington (Ricky), of Jefferson, Texas, a brother, Christopher Melton (Tobi) of Murrieta, California, Family Class of 1974, a host of other relatives, and friends.

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