Wilnetha was born on May 6, 1934 in Utica, Ok, the youngest of 5 daughters born to James Thomas and Nancy Jane (Sorrell) Wooton. She passed away peacefully on Wednesday, February 5, 2014 at Clarehouse in Tulsa, after a long battle with Alzheimers disease. She attended elementary school in Durant, OK. Her family moved to Red Fork, in west Tulsa, in 1945, where she graduated from Daniel Webster High School in 1952. She attended The University of Tulsa for one year, where she studied theology.

On October 21, 1955 she married James D. Waters, the son of one of her favorite Sunday school teachers. She became a mother & homemaker, and they moved to Pryor, Ok, where they raised two sons & were very active in the First Baptist Church of Pryor. She taught Sunday School and Bible school, and played piano for a ladies trio that frequently traveled to other churches to share their ministry of music. After her sons were grown &
on their own, she moved back to Tulsa to help care for her much loved elderly mother,& pursue a career. She held jobs at the Tulsa World,
ORU, Casa Bonita, & retired at age 70 after 22 years as clerk in the purchasing dept. at Tulsa City Hall. After retirement, she worked as an polling place judge for Tulsa County Election Board.

She enjoyed reading and studying her Bible, cooking, arts & crafts, being with family, playing the piano and organ, and singing songs of praise. She always lived a Christian life and was compassionate in every way and was sweet and kind to everyone she met. She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband J.D. Waters, and her beloved sisters Ada Wooton and Louise Scribner. She is survived by her devoted son Raymond Douglas Waters and wife Jeanette, son Norman D. Waters, grandchildren Amanda Kaye Brodsky and Brittany Michelle Waters, and three great grandchildren; two sisters,
Alice Mays and Alvie Nichols.