John Allen Lange, age 78, of Seguin, Texas, passed away on August 15, 2023. John was born on May 11, 1945, to Lola Mae (Mix) and Rudolph John Frank William Lange.

John attended Southwest College. He also worked as a welding instructor for Gary Job Corp for 27 years, then part-time at St. Philip's College. John and his cousin also owned and operated Lange Welding.  He proudly served in the Army National Guard and Reserve from September 13, 1965, and received an Honorable Discharge on Sept. 12, 1972. His highest rank was Sergeant.

John was a very gentle, kind, and loving dad.   His wife, children and his grandchildren were his world.  He would work 7 days a week to make sure there was food on the table and the family had everything they needed.

A man with three daughters that didn't take any interest in the family trade, he was so happy when the boyfriends started coming around. He would immediately enlist them into working on the weekends putting up metal buildings.  While getting their help, he also taught them all about welding and putting up metal buildings.  They were grateful to him for teaching them the trade and passing on his knowledge.   When the grandsons got old enough, then it was their turn to get taught the family trade.

Being such a people person, teaching welding came naturally to him.  I can see it now, he is probably setting up welding classes in heaven right now.  He loved it so much, just 6 months ago he was talking about going back to work. He was unable to stop, even to the very end when you could watch him in his hospital bed working on an imaginary project and telling anyone by his bedside to go get him parts. Then he would get upset if you messed up what he was working on. He loved the kids that he taught, and they loved and respected him. The students would visit him at home. When he was having trouble driving, they would even pick him up and take him to work. He was such a requested teacher; the college called him on the day he passed to come back to work.

Along with working, he also loved his sports. Not only did he love watching his Cowboys play "during the good and bad years"; he also loved to watch wrestling.  He also could be found playing softball or volleyball down at the Seguin sports complex until injuries wouldn't allow him to play any longer. Then when the grandsons started playing football, you could find him at the games. He loved to watch them play and was always so proud of them.

For such a quiet and softspoken person, he had a jokester side. He loved to pick on his family and friends.

John was a Dodge man; he would only drive a Dodge.  If you bought a US made vehicle then he would let you slide, but you were going to get picked on if you bought a foreign vehicle.  For the longest time, there was normally a vehicle for sale in the front yard. Red would refer to it as "Honest John's car lot".

His favorite car was his '68 Dodge Charger, there are many stories about him having the fastest car in Seguin.  He had other muscle cars like the "Super Bee", but that blue Charger was his favorite vehicle he ever had.  That car was his pride and joy.  The story goes, he bought the car not working for $2,500, and with his dad's help he was able to get it running.  From there he kept working on it until he had it the fastest car in Seguin.  From that point on, most people only saw the taillights if they tried to race him.

Later in life, he decided to get his red Dodge truck "which he loved", April could get him all wound up by telling him that she was going to take it for a drive.

Dad had a lot of patience fixing things.  He always felt he could fix everything, which means at times he would spend a lot of time and money on repairing things like the lawnmowers.   He probably could have bought a new one with the amount of money he put in the old ones, but like his dad "PoPo", he enjoyed tinkering with things and the challenge of fixing them.

He was known to only put a very minimum amount of gas in his vehicle, which meant he ran out of gas often going back and forth to job sites. But never fear, the welder was always filled with fuel, so the unlucky son-in-law riding with him got to siphon fuel from the welder to put in the truck. Then the next day dad would do it all over again.   Oddly he would never get upset, but just rolled with it.

John loved to fish and could be found running his trotlines using his little jon boat trying to catch catfish. But oddly he didn't like to eat fish.  On the other hand, he didn't hunt but loved to eat dried deer sausage.    You could also find him years ago at turkey shoots trying to win a frozen turkey.

John is preceded in death by his parents and his granddaughter Tiffany Doerr.

He is survived by his wife, Mary Jane "Janie" Lange; children, Teresa Christine Green and spouse Edwin "Red" Green, Sherri Lynn Doerr and spouse Christopher Doerr, April Dawn Manning (Lange) and spouse Mark Harper; grandchildren, Erica Teague and spouse Dustin Teague, Johnathan Doerr, Ty Green, Jacob Doerr, Trent Lange and fiancé Tara Smith, Cole Doerr, Trinity Lange, Taylee Harper, and Taitlynn Harper; great-grandchild, Elaina Pittman-Lange; brother, Ronnie Lange and spouse Marilyn Lange, numerous nieces, nephews, other loving family members and friends.

Visitation will be held on Monday, August 21, 2023, a 9:00 a.m. at Tres Hewell Mortuary Chapel followed by a funeral service at 10:00 a.m. with Pastor Sandra Dee Mahone officiating. Interment with military honors will follow at Guadalupe Valley Memorial Park. Serving as pallbearers will be Johnathan Doerr, Ty Green, Cole Doerr, Trent Lange, Mark Harper, Dustin Teague, Kevin Posey, and Justin Schultz.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Guadalupe County Humane Society, P.O. Box 1593, Seguin, Texas 78155, or to the charity of one's choice.