Violet N. Lang

Violet Doloris Lang, 98½, who always considered herself a Rio Hondo resident, was transformed to eternal life on January 19, 2025. She was a homemaker, a supportive and collaborative farmer’s wife, a teacher and educator, business owner and operator, a very skilled seamstress, a friend to many, but always, first and foremost, a loving Christian mother and grandmother. 

She was born to Clifford & Edith Norman on July 13, 1926, in Eagle Creek Township, about 20 miles south of Gary, Indiana, where her father worked in the steel mills on the shores of Lake Michigan. The family moved to the Rio Grande Valley in 1931 at the invitation of her Mother’s parents, Bruno & Ina Taubert, who moved from Tennessee the year before. 

Violet attended first grade in a two-room Cameron County Elementary School located on San Fernando Road, east of FM 2925, in the Monte Grande District. She was the only English speaking child in the lower grades classroom, and walked about 1½ miles from her home to school and back with her aunt, who was in the upper grades classroom. 

In August of 1933 Clifford, with Edith and Violet, returned to Indiana for work at the urging of steel mill personnel, which spared the Norman family the trauma of property loss and damage from the devastating September, 1933 hurricane. Violet completed second grade in the Gary Public Schools at a nice 3-story classroom building for grades one through six. The contrast between the Indiana and Texas schools was dramatic. 

In late 1934, the Norman family came back to Texas to stay, with a new baby sister, Vivian. Initially they lived in a converted city bus across the canal from the Taubert home, then later established a permanent home site a quarter mile east on Taubert Road, where Violet grew up and lived until she married. 

Violet attended Rio Hondo schools after returning to the Valley. She met Reed Lang in band during high school, but they never dated each other until after graduation in May 1944. By July, Violet started classes at the University of Texas in Austin where she lived in the Scottish Rite Dormitory. In addition to her studies, Violet was also in the Longhorn Marching Band and Symphonic Orchestra. After WWII duty in the U.S. Navy, Reed returned to the University of Texas to complete his degree. Reed and Violet married in the First Baptist Church of Rio Hondo on March 1, 1947, a marriage that continued almost fifty-eight years until Reed passed in 2005. Violet graduated in January, 1948, with a major in Chemistry and a minor in Math. They stayed in Austin until Reed graduated in May, 1950. During the two years after Violet graduated, she worked as an assistant for two Family Practice and Surgical doctors in Austin. 

Reed and Violet returned to Rio Hondo to farm in 1950, first farming with his father-in-law, and then later, on his own. They bought 50 acres on FM 2925 in late 1957, with a 25-year old stucco house, which became their homesite and farm headquarters for the next 45 years. They continued to add to their acreage over the years, but finally rented out their land and ‘retired’ from the farming business when they sold their house and moved to Golden Palms Retirement Center in Harlingen in early 2002, where Violet lived until her death. 

On the farm they grew a variety of crops, including cotton, milo, corn, vegetables, oranges, grapefruit, avocados, and peaches. Avocados were a grand adventure, leading the farm in a whole new direction. Reed planted avocado trees in 1960, and their first marketable crop was weeks away from harvest when Hurricane Beulah hit the Valley in 1967, ruining the entire crop. Three years later they started a gift fruit shipping business under the name Reed Lang Farms in the garage at their house. They soon moved the business to a packing shed in Rio Hondo, then to a larger building and office right on the main street, which they operated for 40 years until Violet sold the business in 2010, at age 84, and took her final ‘retirement’. 

Reed and Violet were parents of two children who survived past infancy, W. Reed Lang III & Brenda Dea Lang. When they were younger, Violet ran a ‘taxi service’ ferrying them to and from swimming lessons, piano lessons, band practice, football games, other school activities, and various extracurricular events, until she ‘retired’ from that gig once Brenda got her driver’s license. 

Violet was a teacher and educator. Starting in 1951, Violet taught in the Rio Hondo Schools until Reed III was born. She became a stay-at-home mom until he started first grade, then returned to the classroom. She again stayed home after Brenda was born until she started school. Violet was in and out of teaching for 24 years. She taught two generations of some families, and several members of her own family including her daughter, sister, and seven cousins. When she ‘retired’ from teaching in 1975 to help run the family gift fruit business, she held a Provisional Life All-Level Teaching Certificate. 

She was also a life-long educator, typically viewing interactions with her children and grandchildren as learning experiences, responding to questions with explanations and discussions on matters to help them learn more, not just providing an answer. She also taught many fruit office employees how to properly pack fruit, how to document shipping and purchaser information from phone orders, and how to route perishable packages for delivery across the continental United States. She also loved giving tours of their facilities, teaching visitors about the gift fruit business and the Texas citrus industry. 

While living on the farm, Violet and Reed attended The Community Church of Rio Hondo. They taught Sunday School, Vacation Bible School, and served as leaders on the Church Board several times over the years. Violet and her children sang in the church choir, and she maintained her membership there after they moved into Golden Palms, although she later attended St. Alban’s Episcopal Church with Brenda and her children. Violet was a member of The Order of The Eastern Star for 79 years, holding nearly all the many chapter officer positions at various or multiple times over those many years. She also served as a District Deputy for the Grand Chapter of Texas. 

Physical activity was always part of Violet’s life. She played softball, volleyball, tennis, did swimming, and she really loved spending time at the beach. Landscaping her homes led Violet to a lifelong love of flower gardening. After moving to Golden Palms, she continued to garden in Brenda’s yard. Violet and Reed also started playing bridge during college with their dear friends, Mary Lou and Barton Nott, and continued with this after they moved to the Valley. Violet also loved to play various card games, dominos, and board games with her children and grandchildren, teaching them to be as competitive as she was. 

Sewing was another of Violet’s skills. She learned to sew on her mother’s treadle sewing machine, and by high school she made most of her own dresses. After getting married, she bought an electric sewing machine, which she used extensively, making most of Reed III’s shirts during his school years and also many of Brenda’s clothes. She ambitiously created Brenda’s wedding dress, the flower girl and bridesmaid dresses, and her own dress. 

In 1957, after first touring the house that would become their new home, Reed told Violet to design a new kitchen and utility corridor for the house, which ignited her lifelong interest in renovations and the design of new structures. Remodeling the old stucco farmhouse became an on-going project the entire 44 years they lived in it. Violet designed a tenant house on the farm, and created plans for remodeling the Community Church kitchen and downstairs Fellowship Room, plus plans for a new Educational Building. When the Rio Hondo Band Boosters built a new concession stand at the old football field, she drew up plans for that, including plenty of electrical outlets and counter space. She designed a home for Reed’s mother in Rio Hondo in 1957, and a four bedroom brick farm home on FM 2925 in 1976. When Reed decided to enlarge the gift fruit business by building a two-story building over the original fruit packing and sales office, both took pen in hand to design those new facilities. 

Violet had a long life, outliving most of her contemporaries. She is survived by her son, W. Reed Lang III (D’Ardi) of Spring, TX and his two children, Kathryn (Chad) Hardin of Spring, TX and Reed Lang IV (Ashley) of Kingwood, TX, and her daughter, Brenda Dea Krafka of Rio Hondo, TX and her three surviving children, Kaytlyn Krafka of San Angelo, TX, Krystyn Bennett (Paul) of San Angelo, TX, and Kevin Krafka (Kelsey) of College Station, TX. Violet is also survived by six terrific great grandchildren, Morgan Hardin, Kacy Hardin, Emersyn Lang, Reed Lang V, Ronan Lang, and Preston Bennett, plus many other relatives. 

Violet was preceded in death by her husband of 58 years, W. Reed Lang, and her parents, Clifford and Edith Norman, two children who died at birth, James Richard Lang and Paula Joyce Lang, her sister Vivian Huie, her son-in law Gary Krafka, and a granddaughter, Kimberly Krafka. 

Visitation will be on February 14, 2025 from 5pm-7pm at the Buck Ashcraft San Benito Funeral Home. Graveside Services are set for February 15, 2025 at 2pm at the Mont Meta Memorial Park Cemetery, with a Celebration of Life Service at 3pm at the Buck Ashcraft San Benito Funeral Home. 

To honor the memory of Violet Lang and her life commitments, donations can be made to the Community Church of Rio Hondo, P. O. Box 157, Rio Hondo, Texas 78583.