Ernest Langford

Ernest Fount Langford

July 21, 1925 ~ August 18, 2018

Ernest Fount Langford, 93 passed away on August 18, 2018.  He was born to Ernest Fountain Langford and Zina Charlotte Chlarson on July 21, 1925.  He married Joan Tullis on June 13, 1947 in the Salt Lake City LDS Temple.

He is survived by his children, Diane (Bill) Grubbs, Russell (Debbie) Langford, Marlene Langford, David (Donna) Langford, Julie (Eric) Peterson, Bonnie (Richard) Hyer and Bret (Jena) Langford; as well as 43 grandchildren and 50 plus great-grandchildren.

Ernie joined the Navy right out of high school at age 17, during WWII, where he served as an Electronic Technician’s Mate First Class.

After the Navy he joined the family Business “Langford Plumbing and Heating” where he worked until about 1966. He also worked for Halverson’s plumbing. About the last 10 years of his working life he worked for Associated Piping and engineering.

He and Joan built a beautiful cabin at Causey Estates.  He loved camping, hunting, motorcycling, and shooting with his family.  He liked to pan for gold, read about the many adventures of finding gold in Utah.  He was always excited when he found a little gold.

He loved doing Family History. He and Joan served on an Employment Service Mission, He spent many of his later years going to the temple and doing two sessions a day. He did that until about May of this year.

Granddaughter Jill Bonsteel said:

My Grandpa Ernie was the best. He had long monkey arms that gave firm great hugs. He inspired me to love history, cherries, and chickens. He always had a jar of pennies and Indian nickels to sort and look at as a child.

Grandpa taught me how to spit a watermelon seed, how to dream of treasure and pan for gold. Grandpa taught me how to whistle with a blade of grass and to bend my knees when chopping wood.

He taught me which plants I could eat safely and the ones that would kill me. Grandpa encouraged me to believe tall tales. Most people never knew what a clever storyteller he was. He would tell me stories of Egypt and Aliens, Conspiracy theory, and about the olden days in the Navy. My favorite story was the time he sliced a whale right in half with a battleship while simultaneously electrocuting wild monkeys who had attacked his Navy vessel.

He taught me to obey your elders, to be quiet and to listen.

He would say, “Jill, it’s important to listen more than you talk.” I am still working on this grandpa. He had the magic ability to make his front teeth disappear if you disobeyed, so I would try hard to sit still and listen.

Grandpa once dressed up like a pirate to make the grands and great-grands smile. He loved his ancestors and his family history. He taught me to eat breakfast and to love oatmeal, prunes and dried apricots.

My grandpa was patient with my grandma. He served his neighbors and he was a peacemaker.

Grandpa taught me to be brave. Up until a few years ago I thought petting moose was a normal thing that people did, because my Grandpa wasn’t afraid of moose. But, no.  We shouldn’t be running up and petting moose.

I will miss you- Grandpa Ernie. I love you!

Granddaughter Kristin Garrett added:  The above is exactly how I too feel about my Grandpa. The only thing I would add here is that he always had a smile for me. He told me stories when I was going to sleep in the loft of their cabin up at Causey Estates and took my siblings and I out to explore the woods and nature. To eat plums off the tree and raspberries right off the bush. He had the best underdogs when he took me to the park and pushed me on the swings. I too will miss him and his stories of how life was “when he was a little girl”.

My memories of Ernest F. Langford – by one of his three sons, David Ernest Langford

Good Times!

I remember that almost every year as a family we would go to Bear Lake. I enjoyed the stories about the Bear Lake Monster. We also had picnics in the canyon and often went on hikes in the mountains.

Dad and I went on a horseback ride to an abandoned mine. We hobbled the horses in the evening and spent the night. In the morning, horses were nowhere to be found. Somehow, dad tracked them down and we were on our way again.

Huntsville

So that we could live in Huntsville while we built our home, Dad built the barn first, and we lived in it. Upstairs were the bedrooms, and there were no walls. We hung blankets to separate the rooms. The worst part of it is that some hornets moved in with us.  I was literally raised in a barn.

Our house in Huntsville would frequently get flooded.  Dad had us dig a hole in our “root cellar” for a pump to keep the water table lower so that it wouldn’t get flooded.

Dad had our house built so that there was a fallout shelter in our basement. The shelter was vented to the outside, but I can admit now that it was fun pouring dirt down the vent pipe.  Part of it was called a root cellar where we would store the food we wanted to preserve through the winter.  One time the carrots we were storing had rotted. Dad made Russell and I remove the carrots. I don’t think that I have ever smelled anything nastier.

Sometimes in the winter we would flood an area on the property and we would be able to ice skate during the winter. There was 3.5 acres but we only used part of it for our yard.

There was one winter in Huntsville when the ground was frozen but the snow melted.  Because there was nowhere for the water to go, we had a lake around our house.  We build a raft to play on.

Dad and some others invested in a wilderness property in North Fork up in the Liberty area. There was a reservoir there with a good supply of trout.  It was so fun fishing there.  Unfortunately it was an investment and someone came by and bought it for more than they had hoped for.

T wilight Zone – Tall Tales

Dad had a passion for the unusual. One of the books he had was “The Hollow Earth”.

At home in Huntsville, I would often sit and listen to him as he talked to a friend because it was so interesting. He also met several people who were unusual and would tell us stories about their unusual experiences.

I got upset at Dad when I learned that his story about his ship splitting a whale in half was made up. I had believed it and told others about it before I found out the truth.

Another story that Dad told (I still believe it is true, but now I’m wondering) is about his cow. He said that it kept climbing through the barb wire fence to get out so he decided to electrify the fence. He said he hooked up the fence to the power from the house. The cow was knocked on its rump. From then on, there was one foot of grass on the inside of the fence that the cow wouldn’t touch because it was too close to the fence.

Remember Pearl Harbor

In the Navy he learned electronics. The Navy sent him to school in Washington DC, Chicago, Arkansas, Idaho, and Pearl Harbor. He spent at least a year in training in these schools. He was taught cutting edge technology that helped the ships navigate, communicate, and escape detection from the enemy.

He even learned how to repair the sonar equipment on submarines but was never called upon to do so.

Because of his training, in addition to installing and repairing electronic equipment such as radar, transmitters, and radios, he became a teacher who often would teach officers with a higher rank.

He was also asked to talk to commanding officers of other ships to persuade them to adopt new electronic equipment used to jam radar. Many would refuse because to do so would make them more likely to be assigned to be stationed on the outer ring of ships protecting the island of Okinawa. There were three rings of ships around the island: One at 50 miles, one at 100 miles, and one and 150 miles from the center of the Island. The outer ring was the first to be attacked by incoming enemy. The Japanese only had enough fuel to get to their targets, never enough to return home. If they were off mission because of their radar was disrupted, they would find the nearest enemy ship and dive their plane into it, usually the very ship that disrupted their radar.

One evening Dad was listening to a radio transmission from one of the U.S. ships that was being attacked by about 50 Japanese planes. He listened until he heard the abandon ship order. He thought the ship had sunk, but a few days later, he saw the ship being towed next to his ship. He was able to see the damage that had been done. It was amazing that the ship had not sunk despite the heavy damage.

For most of his active duty he was assigned to an electronic repair ship that had about 100 technicians aboard. Their area of operation was the lower islands of Japan and to aid in the effort to invade Okinawa, and ultimately to invade Japan. Towards the end of his service he was assigned to a destroyer. He never was involved in battle because the war was brought to an end by the two atomic bombs that were dropped. One in Hiroshima, and one in Nagasaki. What the Japanese didn’t know, was that we were out of Atomic bombs!  We only had the two.

He went through three typhoons in the south pacific. The first time the commanding officer decided to stay in the harbor, but it was such a harrowing experience that for the next two he went out of the harbor into the ocean.

Towards the end of his service in the military, Dad was stationed in San Diego for two months. Jim, his brother was also stationed there. They decided to visit their aunt Vivian in Mesa, Arizona. They hitch hiked both ways and made it back to San Diego before being AWOL. They were picked up by one man that had stolen a vehicle. They didn’t know it at the time. Dad said that the man driving was running out of gas, but he didn’t stop to get gas because he was afraid of being apprehended. After running out of gas, Dad and Heber caught a ride with someone else. They figured that the guy picked them up because of their uniforms. How could the police suspect a man that was with two enlisted men?

On his ship there was no Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints services, so he attended the protestant services and sang in the choir.

At times there was nothing to do on the ship. Dad was persuaded to play craps, even though he didn’t know what it was. He ended up winning $900. With the $1,100 he had saved from the Navy, he had $2,000 to buy his first house.

Talent on loan from God

By the age of 10, he already knew all about plumbing tools and fittings. His dad would send him to the truck to get what was needed.

After the Navy he graduated from college in two years with an associate degree in science, he said that the two year degree was all they had at the time.

Dad and Heber went into business together and had a plumbing business located in the Riverdale area. If I remember right, it was “Langford Plumbing and Heating”. I don’t know if this was a continuation of their dad’s business or not. I remember Russell and I worked in their shop for a while, sorting fittings, and cleaning up. Ultimately I think that Dad thought it would be better and a more reliable paycheck if he worked for another plumbing company, so he probably sold out to Heber.

Dad would often work a second job after his plumbing work. He sold life insurance and I actually learned the business myself.

He was a member of the staff at Weber State College. He taught the apprenticeship courses. When I took the training, I earned college credit. One of the benefits of teaching at the College, he could get into some of the events for free. In this way, we attended an event with Pat Boone and his daughters, and Bob Richards, who was an Olympic athlete who promoted and appeared on boxes of Wheaties.

And speaking of celebrities, I can remember dad sitting on a fence and talking with David O. McKay at the McKay home in Huntsville. I can also remember George and Olive Osmond would often stop at our home and talk with Dad and Mom. Our parents would always call us to the TV when the Osmond’s were performing on the Andy Williams Show.

Dad was always involved in building his own houses. I marveled at how hard he would work.

Dad taught us a great deal about science and electricity, usually by showing us. He was part of a barbershop quartet.

Dad was always a wonderful gardener and he always had a garden and often an orchard.

A Memorial service will be held on Saturday August 25, 2018 at 11 a.m. at Lindquist’s Ogden Mortuary, 3408 Washington Blvd. Friends may visit with family on Saturday from 9:45 to 10:45 a.m. at the mortuary. Interment, Aultorest Memorial Park.