HOUSTON — A champion of voter rights, human rights, and spiritual rights. A man of peace and a man of faith. We're saddened to share the passing of the Reverend William Bill Lawson at age 95.
The beloved pastor of Wheeler Ave Baptist Church touched the lives of countless Houstonians in so many ways dating back to the Civil Rights Movement. He will always be remembered fondly as "Houston's Pastor."
A man of great poise and respect, Rev. Lawson often gave pause and prayed over turbulent times, from the frontlines of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s to the racial reckoning of the summer 2020 following George Floyd's death.
He was often a voice of inspiration at times of distress in our lives.
Lawson arrived in Houston after seminary school.
“I came here in August of 1955,” he said in an interview several years ago. “Things were beginning to boil in the South at that time. I did not realize it, but they were. A young man named Emmett Till had been lynched in Mississippi. That was on the day that I came.”
He served as the director of the Baptist Student Union and a professor at Texas Southern University.
It wasn't long before he founded and opened nearby Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church. Lawson and 12 others opened the doors of the small white church among the pines. The year was 1962. John F. Kennedy was in the White House. The Civil Rights movement was spreading.
In Houston, Lawson raised money to bail out his students unjustly arrested for taking part in lunch counter sit-ins protesting segregation. He quickly found himself at the forefront of integrating Houston, even hosting Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
"I had never met him before, but when he wanted to come to Houston, I said, ‘Well, if other churches will not welcome you, I will,’” Lawson told us.
Lawson continued to champion Civil Rights and social justice reform through the years. He ushered in positive change decade after decade while confronting the issues and the establishment head-on.
“Basically, this is a church that decided from the very offset to have some influence on the neighborhoods around it,” Lawson said on the 35th anniversary of Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church.
The reverend turned abandoned apartments into homes for the homeless, reached out to the hungry, and orchestrated proper legal representation for the poor and people of color, establishing Harris County's first ever public defender's office.
He did so by crossing color lines, political affiliations, and religions.
"I am part of a trio called The Three Amigos. There is a Catholic archbishop. He's white, there is a Jewish rabbi. He's white. And there's me," Lawson said.
Reverend Lawson retired from the church in 2005 and became the Pastor Emeritus of Wheeler Avenue Baptist.
His health declined, but his mind and memory remained sharp, despite left lobe epilepsy. He brought his condition to our attention after his thoughtful reflections on the Derek Chauvin trial.
“From churches to schools to corporate America, what kind of conversations should be happening right now?” we asked him.
“We should include, it seems to me, much of who our various components are,” he said. “We must know something about, those people who had made contributions and are still making contributions and they are a a kind of kaleidoscope of people once we come closer and closer. To the family of people, in this case, have spoken of a video taken by a young girl. We have to think of people like that, that that young girl, along with oldsters like me, and I think that if there is any kind of real legacy there that I would want to see it if it is a legacy that moves from the old-fashioned white versus Black, majority versus minority, which as well as rich over poor. My hope is that that that we will be more like, more like a family.
Rev. Lawson said his greatest accomplishment was his own family. Our thoughts and prayers are with them, including a fellow journalist, long-time anchorwoman and friend, Melanie Lawson.
Rev. Bill Lawson funeral information
Rev. Bill Lawson’s body will lie in state from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursday, May 23. The Community Service of Celebration will be held at 6 p.m. on Thursday, May 23, and the Congregational Service of Celebration will be held at 11 a.m. on Friday, May 24.
Both services will be held at Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church, 3826 Wheeler Avenue, in Houston.