Larry Lang, retired teacher and mentor, dies at 88

A MAN who could read the Bible all the way through four times is someone to be reckoned with.

In fact, Elijah Larry Lang was on his fifth reading when he died .

"He was determined to read the Bible from cover to cover," said his wife, the Rev. Martha Lang. "He would never go to bed without reading God's word. He would start the day by reading God's word."

But Larry Lang didn't just read scripture - he lived its message of love and service.

He had a special interest in children and young people, especially young men. As a supervisor at the Youth Study Center and teacher at the Daniel Boone School for troubled students, he worked hard to show them how to be productive citizens.

"He taught them what it was to be a man," said his wife, who is pastor of Mount Tabor African Methodist Episcopal Church. "He taught them to wear ties and shirts twice a week. He taught them how to tie a tie. He gave them values to live by."

Larry would drive handicapped children to church in a van he purchased. He sponsored retreats to teach young people religious values. He even bought a hot-dog cart at 6th and Ranstead streets to benefit handicapped children.

His church activities would fill a separate book, and he was often honored for his work.

Last May, he suffered a household accident that put him in a hospital and his health began to decline. After rehab and acute care, he suffered a stroke and died on Sept. 19. He was 88 and lived in the Yorktown neighborhood of North Philadelphia.

Larry was born to Zack and Eliza Lang on a farm in Palmetto, Fla., where they were sharecroppers. His first religious experiences were at the Turner Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church, in Palmetto.

He and his older brother, Richard, would clean the church, a job they much preferred over farm work.

Always a lover of poetry, he recited a poem at a Sunday school convention, and Bishop Henry Young Tookes was so impressed, he offered him a scholarship to Edward Waters College, in Jackonsville. He became the bishop's chauffeur.

Larry later transferred to Florida A&M University, in Tallahassee, where he worked in the dining hall and as a short-order cook to pay his way. He was so busy working that he had to be told that he was on the graduation list, and had no time even to invite family to the ceremony.

After graduation, he married and had three children, served as a Sunday school superintendent at a local church, and became head of the business department at Central High School, in Mobile, Ala.

After his first marriage ended, he met Martha LaDuna, who became the love of his life. They moved to Philadelphia where they were married in 1965, and he became active with St. Matthew AME Church.

He went to work at the Youth Study Center and taught business at public schools, including Shoemaker Junior High and Overbrook and Gratz high schools. His last school was Boone, from which he retired.

"He loved children," his wife said, "and was a father to many at school and church. He was fondly known by many as 'Papa Lang.' "

At St. Matthew, he was Sunday school superintendent, among other activities. He started Standard Bible Evening School to teach church school workers how to teach the Bible. It later became known as City Wide Interdenominational Christian Training Institute, which is still going strong after 44 years and has produced many pastors and church education leaders.

After his wife became pastor of Mount Tabor AME, Larry transferred there to support her. He bought the church van to take people to church who couldn't make it on their own.

He served as superintendent of the Church School, steward, class leader, member of the Adult Sunday Class, supervisor of employment and president of Mount Tabor Community Education and Economic Development, Inc.

In that role, he helped to secure funding for the Mount Tabor Cyber Village Senior Housing project, a $14 million, 56-unit housing complex next to the church.

Larry was something of an amateur weatherman. He kept a black book recording the weather daily and comparing it yearly. If you needed to know if it rained on a certain date in the past, you could check his personal almanac.

Besides his wife, he is survived by two daughters, Carolyn Robinson and Yetta Baldwin; three sons, Nathaniel, Larrion and Lehron; a sister, Lucille Hay; 15 grandchilden and 14 great-grandchildren; and a niece, Queene Mays, whom the family treated as a daughter.

Services: 10 a.m. Friday at Mount Tabor AME Church, 961 N. 7th St. Friends may call at 8 a.m. Burial will be in West Laurel Hill Cemetery, Bala Cynwyd.