HOUSTON — The last of the "Three Amigos" has passed away, leaving a massive void in the city of Houston's heart.
On Tuesday, KHOU 11 News learned of the passing of 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."
Lawson was part of the Three Amigos along with Archbishop Joseph A. Fiorenza and Rabbi Samuel Karff. The Houston faith leaders joined forces in support of civil rights for more than 50 years.
The Three Amigos helped break down walls and build relationships among people of different faiths and backgrounds.
The pastor, rabbi and archbishop had an impactful friendship that epitomized love and harmony. Their friendship inspired all of us. Now, the Three Amigos are gone.
Who was Lawson?
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.
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.
Lawson retired from the church in 2005 and became the Pastor Emeritus of Wheeler Avenue Baptist.
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.
RELATED: Rev. Bill Lawson, champion of civil rights, human rights and spiritual rights, has died at 95
Who was Karff?
Karff was born on Sept. 19, 1931, in Philadelphia. He was an honors graduate of Harvard College. He was ordained in 1956, and in 1962, he earned his Doctor of Hebrew Letters degree from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. Rabbi Karff was married for 57 years to Joan Mag Karff, with whom he raised three daughters.
Karff was Senior Rabbi of Congregation Beth Israel from 1975 to 1999 when he became Rabbi Emeritus. He was an Air Force Chaplain and served congregations in Boston, Hartford, Chicago, Montgomery, Ala. and Flint. He was also an author and visiting professor at The University of Texas Health Science Center.
His death was announced in August 2020. He was 88.
Who was Fiorenza?
Archbishop Emeritus Joseph Anthony Fiorenza was born on Jan. 25, 1931, in Beaumont. The son of immigrant Italian parents, he was the second of four children born to Anthony and Grace Fiorenza.
Fiorenza graduated from St. Anthony High School in Beaumont on May 29, 1947. He began studies for the priesthood in 1947 and was ordained a priest for the then-Diocese of Galveston-Houston on May 29, 1954.
Following ordination, he served as an assistant pastor in Houston for three years and then became the professor of medical ethics at Dominican College and chaplain of St. Joseph Hospital in Houston. From 1959 to 1967, he was the administrator of Sacred Heart Co-Cathedral. He was pastor of several churches from 1967 to 1973 when he was named chancellor of Galveston-Houston.
St. Pope John Paul II named him the Bishop of San Angelo on Sept. 4, 1979, and he served in that West Texas diocese until 1985 when he was named the Bishop of Galveston-Houston, an archdiocese that has more than 1.7 million Catholics in 146 parishes across 10 counties. He became Galveston-Houston's first Archbishop on Dec. 29, 2004.
Fiorenza died on Sept. 19, 2022. He was 91.