As keynote speaker for the Center for Houston's Future annual luncheon, the Rev. William A. Lawson looked from the podium to his good friends, former President George H.W. Bush and his wife, Barbara.
The former first lady was there to receive the group's Eugene H. Vaughan Civic Leadership Award for her work on literacy initiatives, and Lawson took the opportunity to both praise and tease them a bit. The event was held at the Hilton Americas Hotel, with 800 attending.
"Barbara Bush was the wife of a president and a mother of a president, but many of you may not know she is also the descendant of a president," said Lawson, the retired senior pastor of Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church. "She is Barbara Pierce, and her ancestor was our 14th president, Franklin Pierce."
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"That makes her a blueblood from a red party who lived in the White House and is on the same program as a black preacher," Lawson said, drawing a big laugh.
Lawson praised Houston for its longtime forward-thinking perspective, noting that 50 years ago when other cities suffered violent protests during the civil rights movement, Houston civic and business leaders tried to work quietly behind the scenes to desegregate the city.
"What is greatest about Houston is that it can face its challenges and deal with them," he said. "Houston jealously guards its future and wants passionately to reach its potential."
At the event, the regional think tank released its annual Civic Vitality Community Indicator report, which can be found at houstonindicators.org.
Among those attending the event were event chairs Dorothy and Mickey Ables, Margaret Alkek Williams, Catherine Clark Mosbacher, Rick and Laura Jaramillo, Ginger Blanton, Anne Mendelsohn, Jackie Phillips, Audrey and Cheryl Lawson, Shrub Kempner and Susana Trimmer
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