Eldon Woodrow Langford

Eldon, a member of the Sons of the Republic of Texas, came from a long line of Bandera pioneers. His parents were Benjamin Franklin 'Frank' Langford, Jr. and Mary Emma Hay. His grandparents were Isaac Berry and Elizabeth Jane Bird Langford and George and Virgine Minear Hay. Eldon grew up in the old Langford home on the corner of Fourteenth and Hackberry with his brothers and sisters: Cohen Hay, Lora Elizabeth, Leotta, Othell, and Wirth.

He was preceded in death by his parents and brothers and sisters.

Eldon graduated from Bandera High School in the class of 1933. From high school, he went to business school in Tyler and then to the University of Texas in Austin where he met his future wife, Lucille Evelyn Treybig. They were married in Seminole, Anderson County on April 21, 1944.

Eldon had an exciting and full life. He received a B.S. and M.S. in Geology and Petroleum Engineering from the University of Texas in 1942.

During World War II, he was an electrician at the freighter shipyard in Houston, Texas. In the very early 1950s, Eldon along with his brothers, Cohen and Othell, formed the Lazy L Ranches. They were among the first in the United States to breed and sell Charolais and Charbray cattle. He worked in the oil and ranching industries until 1964. At that time he became a professor in Geology at San Antonio College where he taught until his retirement in 1985.

Eldon and Lucille celebrated their Golden Wedding Anniversary 1994.

After his retirement, Eldon became fully dedicated to oil and watercolor painting. He painted with the Warren Hunter Art Group and later with The Coppini Academy of Fine Arts in San Antonio. He made many friends in the world of art.

Eldon is survived by his wife, Lucille, two sons who live in San Antonio and a daughter in Houston: Alan Langford and wife, Ruth Daniel, and their daughter Emily Langford Bennighof and her husband, Bryan; Brian Langford and his daughters, Natalie and Michelle; Lauren Langford and her husband, John Delayre.

Special thanks to his physicians Drs. Raymond Harle, Charles Roeth, William Craig, and all of the Hunter Art Group.

Memorials may be made to the The Bandera Frontier Times Museum 506 13th Street, Bandera, TX, 78003 and/or The American Heart Association www.americanheart.org/.

Eldon was a talented, creative, quiet, compassionate, hard-working person. We will all miss him, his wealth of tales of the past, his gentleness, and his fantastic annual Christmas card!