Isaac Williams aka BeBe (Drama) 1977
The years following my graduation from HSPVA were restless to say the least. Determined to continue as a performing artist but not a starving one, I entered Sam Houston State University and majored in Chemistry. In addition, I performed with the University Theatre, as well as Six Flags Show Productions, Theatre Under the Stars and Houston Grand Opera and for years later worked as a Laboratory Manager by day and stage performer by night. I even did a stint at the Comedy Workshop at one point. In 1988 I moved to Los Angeles where I worked for a Testing and Inspection Laboratory that eventually promoted me to Field Operations Manager and relocated me to San Francisco. It was there that I received the proverbial “call” and entered a monastery and became a Benedictine monk. I eventually left the monastery and returned to Houston. Feeling a strong attachment to and missing the California coastal lifestyle I purchased a beachfront condo on Galveston Island. I worked in Laboratory Management in Quality Control and Research and Development for Bayer Material Science and later Exxon Mobil. Fifteen years later the “call” resurfaced only this time it was a “Summons” as I would not be at peace until I returned to the monastery. I left everything behind and am living a life of seclusion in prayer and contemplation 24/7. Thanks to the contribution of everyone at HSPVA in small and big ways I am happily serving as the community’s Cantor and Reader as well as training new monks in formation in Gregorian Chant. A special thanks to Mary Martha Lappe and her words of encouragement in my Senior year (which I am sure she does not remember). But most of all to my biggest supporter of all, Mendy Mendenhall. I learned of the reunion site researching Mendy and was overwhelmed by the parallel in the ways our lives developed: Mendy a priest and myself a monk. “Requiescant in Pace”, “May he rest in Peace”.

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