Cedric R. Landon Jr.

Cedric, or “Ced,” as everyone called him was born in San Angelo, Texas, November 22, 1920, the son of Cedric Richards Landon and Zora Gaines Landon. The Landon family moved to San Antonio, Texas in 1922, where Ced graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School in 1938. Later that year he enrolled in the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas, where he was a member of the Corps of Cadets. His college studies were interrupted by World War II when in 1942 he was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the Army and placed on active duty. Serving in the Ordnance Department, Ced participated in the North African and Italian Campaigns, leaving the Army in 1946 with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. After the War, he returned to A & M where on June 15, 1946 he married Sara Allen Cofer, whom he had met in College Station before he went overseas. For the 58 years of their marriage before Sara Allen died in 2004 they were devoted to each other, their love and respect apparent to family and friends. Ced and Sara Allen, had two sons, Richard Brooks, born in 1948, and John Cofer, born in 1954.

In 1947 Ced graduated from A & M with a BS in Animal Husbandry and he and Sara Allen moved to Uvalde, Texas, where he was manager of the Uvalde Livestock Auction Sales and was co-owner of a small ranch in Frio County. Subsequent years saw them move to Mississippi, first to the Cottonwood Plantation, a 2000 acre ranch, and then to the much larger 17,000 acre Fitler Plantation, working as Plantation Manager for the Slick-Moorman Cattle Company. For a short period he embarked on his own ranching venture near Rolling Fork, Mississippi, before moving to Houston, Texas in 1959, where he became a general ranch manager for Paul F. Barnhart’s Texas ranches. After some twenty-six years as a rancher and ranch manager, Ced moved into a related industry—the water well business, serving first as a Vice President for Pump Maintenance for Layne Texas Water Contractors, retiring in 1994, and then until 2002 as a consultant for Alsay Incorporated.

Ced met every challenge that life dealt him with courage, fortitude and grace. He was a man of few words but great heart and generosity which found expression as a Scoutmaster and Assistant Scoutmaster for Troop 222 at Bellaire UMC, a Little League baseball coach, and his many years as usher at the 9:00 am Sunday worship service at Bellaire UMC. He was an accomplished outdoorsman, a skilled woodworker, a crafty fisherman, a proud cook, and, particularly in the years following his stroke in 2002, a voracious reader. He could fix almost anything, a trait not inherited by his sons. He was as tough as they come, but gentle, caring, and sentimental. He was courteous, fair, and honest. His handshake spoke volumes.

Along with Ced, whose firm handshake expressed it every day, the family appreciates and is grateful to those who cared for him in the last years of his life, especially the caring individuals at Clarewood House.

Cedric is survived by his two sons and their families: Brooks and his wife Marie of Iowa City, Iowa and their daughter Brennan and son Richard, and John and his wife Diane of Houston and their sons Allen and William. He is also survived by his sister, Mrs. Lydia Mullens of Frisco, Texas. He was preceded in death by his wife and by his parents.

A memorial service will be held at 11:00 am in the chapel of Bellaire United Methodist Church, 4417 Bellaire Blvd., on Saturday, April 2. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that contributions be made to Clarewood House, 7400 Clarewood Dr., Houston, TX, 77036 or to Bellaire United Methodist Church.