Dr Reuben Clarence Lang

Reuben Clarence Lang was born on a farm in Tappen, North Dakota on 1 January 1925 to Frederick Lang and Rosina Lang (née Roesch).  His parents were German immigrants from the south of pre-revolutionary Russia.  Clarence attended the local country Glueckstal Church where services were held in German.

As a boy, life on the farm could be harsh and lonely especially since in the summer, Clarence was elected to herd the cattle on the treeless prairies of the Dakotas, 6 days a week, starting at 8 a.m. and ending after 5 p.m. every day except Sundays.  Going to the school in the autumn was, as he put it, a joyful and liberating experience.  He attended a one-room country school with one and the same teacher for 10 years.  His last two years of High School was carried out through correspondence studies.  He graduated from Napoleon High School in North Dakota; and from there went to Wartburg College in 1942 for 3 years in Waverly, Iowa; and subsequently to Wartburg Seminary in 1945 for 2 years in Dubuque, Iowa.  In 1946 he served in the US Coast Guard for 6 weeks in the summer, travelling to Salonika, Greece.  From 1947-1948 he served as Vicar for 5 congregations from North Battleford, North Saskatoon, Canada.  He helped bring 7 families from Europe to resettle in Canada.  In 1949 he obtained his Masters of Theology.

From 1949-1951, after seminary, he did one-year missionary work serving as a pastor in Oliver, British Colombia, Canada.

Therefore, in late 1951, Clarence went to Germany to continue his theological studies in Erlangen during which time he met his wife-to-be, Lotte Troidl. After he returned married with Lotte to the United States in 1953.

Upon returning to the US, he served as Pastor in the Dakotas, and began to promote the building of homes for the aged with Good Samaritan, and completed his Master's Degree in Modern History at the University of South Dakota with his thesis "The Foreign Policy of Gustav Stresemann."  In 1956 he accepted a one-year teaching contract in Moorhead, Minnesota.

In 1958, he accepted a call to the Lutheran congregation in Tea, South Dakota, near Sioux  Falls.  During those five years that he served the Tea congregation, he also coordinated the building of homes for the aged in Beresford, Scotland, Trip, Conistota, and Lennox Good Samaritan Center, all in South Dakota, and was a part-time History and German Professor at the American Baptist, Sioux Falls College where he eventually took on teaching German and History full time.

Thereafter he accepted a four-year contract with Concordia College in St Paul Minnesota and in 1966 he received his doctorate from Kiel University in Germany.  His dissertation was in German and covered the image of Germany in the USA during World War I and up until 1925.

In 1967 he went to Midland Lutheran College in Fremont, Nebraska to teach History.  Then finally in January 1972 he took the opportunity to teach German at Texas Lutheran University in Seguin, Texas from where he retired in 1987 as Professor Emeritus, but, as he often pointed out, with his involvement in historical pursuits, one can hardly speak of retirement.

His view regarding higher education is that students are becoming ever more vocational-conscious, rather than "getting an education for the sake of having an education."  He sought to instill the latter, hoping to foster continued self-education throughout life, harmonizing, as he saw it, with the endeavors of institutions such as TLU.

After retirement, his extensive travels in Europe brought him in contact with at least 400 people.

Surviving Family Members include his wife, Lotte; two daughters, Pearl and Patricia Lang, sister Gertrude Learn in North Dakota, and numerous nephews and nieces on both his sisters' and brothers' side.

He is preceded in death by his parents, Frederick and Rosina Lang (née Roesch), sisters Ellena Wanner, Adella Haibeck, Rose Sylling, and Laura Marquart, brothers Theodore, Leo, Gilbert, and brother Edwin who died in infancy.

• Rite of Inurnment for The Rev. Dr. Reuben Clarence Lang will be Sunday, July 25, 2021 at Emanuel's Lutheran Church during the 10:30 a.m worship service.

• Memorial contributions may be made to The Glueckstal-Lang Scholarship at Texas Lutheran University, The Lang Language Scholarship at Texas Lutheran University, c/o Texas Lutheran University Development Office, 1000 W. Court Street, Seguin, Texas, 78155 or Emanuel's Lutheran Church, 206 N. Travis St., Seguin, TX. 78155.