Rick Perry: From Paint Creek to the Governor’s Mansion

The Republican presidential candidate speaks often about how his upbringing in a sparsely populated Texas farming community has influenced his conservatism.

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Texas Gov. Rick Perry signed a yearbook next to a picture of himself as a high school sophomore in 1966.

Charles Dharapak / AP

A 1966 high school yearbook photo of Perry.

Charles Dharapak / AP

During his 1990 run for Texas agriculture commissioner, Perry traveled the state in a vintage World War II bomber. Until he joined the Air Force in 1972, Perry said Paint Creek "was the only world that I knew."

Rod Aydelotte / AP

Paint Creek, Tex., where Perry grew up was "way out in the country," Perry has said. "There weren't many people at all. That's just the way it was." His parents still live there.

Miguel Jurez / For The Washington Post

In 1950, the census counted about 900 black residents out of a population of about 13,000 in Haskell County, where Perry was born. Mae Lou Yeldell, who has lived in Haskell County for 70 years, recalled a gas station refusing to sell her father fuel when he drove the family through neighboring Throckmorton County, where even fewer blacks lived.

Miguel Juarez / For The Washington Post

Ronnie Brooks, a retired game warden, said he guided a few turkey shoots for Perry between 1985 and 1990. Perry would host lawmakers, friends and supporters at his family's secluded west Texas hunting camp, which to many is still known by a controversial, racially charged name.

Miguel Juarez / For The Washington Post

A welcome sign at the entrance of Throckmorton, the county seat. The Perry family's longtime hunting camp is situated on a vast, 42,000-acre ranch that reaches into Throckmorton and two other counties.

Miguel Juarez / For The Washington Post

Perry campaigns for state agricultural commissioner in 1990.

Lee Baker / AP

Perry appears with Robert Mitchum, far left, President George H. W. Bush and Catherine Mosbacher at an event in Houston in 1992.

Marcy Nighswander / AP

Lt. Gov. Rick Perry appears with Gov. George W. Bush at a news conference in Houston in 1998. When Bush was elected president, Perry replaced him in the Governor's Mansion.

David J. Phillip / AP

Surrounded by his family, Perry is sworn in as governor of Texas on Dec. 21, 2000.

J. Scott Applewhite / AP

Rick Perry enters the state senate chamber with wife Anita on Dec. 21, 2000. Perry was sworn in as governor after George W. Bush resigned earlier in the day.

Paul Buck / AFP/Getty Images

Paint Creek students cheer Gov. Rick Perry, right, and his wife, Anita, after he announces in 2002 that he will run to keep his office in the next election.

Donna McWilliam / AP

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