One service wasn’t enough to celebrate the life of a beloved community leader, civil rights trailblazer, founding Pastor Emeritus of the church and “Houston’s Pastor” Rev. William Alexander “Bill” Lawson, who died on May 14. He was 95 years old.
Thousands of people who’ve been impacted by Lawson — congregants, friends, family, fraternity brothers, prominent community leaders, elected officials, esteemed local and national clergy leaders of various faiths, among several others — cleared their schedules and traveled near and far to make it to Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church on Thursday and Friday to bid farewell to someone who Dr. Marcus D. Cosby, the senior pastor of WABC, revered Thursday evening as a “multifaceted man.” Cosby officiated Friday’s service.
The earliest attendee lined up as early as 7 a.m. Thursday morning to attend the viewing, two hours before the ceremony began, according to a WABC spokesperson, and the parking lot was nearly full an hour before each service began. Bishop James W.E. Dixon II, who also serves as the NAACP Houston president and is a pastor of Community of Faith church, officiated Thursday’s ceremony.
“You have to pay appropriate homage and respect for a man that’s done so much for this community,” said James “Jimmy” Walker, one of Lawson’s fellow Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity brothers and longtime friends after an omega service the fraternity held Thursday evening.
Lawson was initiated into the Beta Omicron Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha, the first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established for Black men, on Nov. 22, 1947.
“If you had an issue, and it was legitimate, Bill Lawson was there to serve and help,” Walker said. “He (was) the appropriate person.”
