Watts Pastor to Speak at Commencement
Carol Houston, who serves the Watts community as senior pastor of Bethel Unspeakable Joy Church, speaks at Westmont’s Commencement Saturday, May 6, at 9:30 a.m. on Carr Field. President Gayle D. Beebe presents the Westmont Medal to Patrick Enthoven, a former treasurer and director of Direct Relief, a Santa Barbara-based humanitarian aid organization active in all 50 states and 70 countries.
Commencement is free and open to the public, but no parking is available on campus. Guests must park their cars at Santa Barbara City College and use Westmont’s free shuttle service to campus, arriving at SBCC no later than 8 a.m.
About 300 students will participate in Commencement, and 103 will graduate with honors. Forty-nine Golden Warriors, who graduated in 1967, will attend the event to celebrate their 50th reunion.
Houston, a Westmont trustee since 1997, joined the Bethel Unspeakable Joy congregation in 1993. Born and raised in Los Angeles, she graduated from the University of Denver and pursued post-graduate study in health education, recreation, gerontology, educational administration and speech communication. She also attended Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena to study missiology.
Houston has been involved in business administration and has managed the business affairs of several Christian physicians and singing artists. She is a trustee of Helping Hands for Better Living, which provides daily outpatient health, rehabilitation and educational programs for adults with a variety of developmental disabilities, including cerebral palsy, quadriplegia, Down syndrome and muscular dystrophy. She has served in various areas of ministry and taught in secondary schools. She is extensively involved with the Westmont community, not only as a trustee but as a frequent chapel speaker and constant supporter of the campus pastor’s office staff.
Enthoven, a native of Johannesburg, South Africa, graduated from the University of Cape Town and trained with Lazard Brothers, a leading investment bank in London. He founded the Hollard Insurance Company, which he ran as CEO until 1986, when he immigrated to the United States. He remained chairman of the insurance firm until he retired in 2010.
In 2002, the Enthoven family started the Hollard Foundation, a South African non-profit organization that focuses on providing orphans and other vulnerable children with opportunities to achieve their full potential in life. At Direct Relief, he sought to improve the health and lives of people affected by poverty or emergencies.