Created by Danny and Deborah Owens, the James M. (Jimmy) Langford Memorial Scholarship will be used to support those men and women who have volunteered to defend our nation by serving as a member of the U.S. Air Force, Army, Navy, Marines, or Coast Guard.

When asked about his friend and his reasons for establishing the scholarship, Mr. Owens replied, “Jimmy and I grew up together at what was then the Panola Gasoline Plant in the Murvaul Community, just off the ‘old Gary road’(FM 10). My dad and Jimmy’s dad both worked at the plant along with about 30 or 40 other employees. Our families lived in company-owned houses and our homes were just a few hundred feet apart. In the late 50’s and early 60’s, Cities Service Oil Co. did away with all those employee houses and we all moved in different directions.”

“Jimmy and I stayed in contact during the teen years,” Owens continued. “After high school he enrolled at Panola College and then joined the Army and I went to Texas A&M. On September 24, 1967, Jimmy was deployed as part of the Army’s 1st Cavalry Division (Air Mobile) to Vietnam. He died as a result of combat injuries on April 3, 1968 in Thua Thien, South Vietnam. He was only 20 years old.”

“We corresponded while he was in Vietnam, and one of the things I remember him telling me in a letter was, ‘whatever you do, don’t drop out of school,’” said Owens. “In another letter he said, ‘when I get back I’m going back to Panola.’ I hope this scholarship will help perpetuate Jimmy’s memory as well as provide some help for those students who serve our country in the United States Armed Services.”

The James M. (Jimmy) Langford Memorial Scholarship will be awarded annually.