Dr. Helene W. Lang

1931 - 2018

SHELBURNE - Helene Lang passed away peacefully on Aug. 21, 2018, at Wake Robin in Shelburne, Vermont. Courageous and brave, she faced cancer for the fourth time and fulfilled her wish to have one last summer in Vermont surrounded, and actively engaged, with family and friends.
Born May 3, 1931, in Lancaster, Massachusetts, she attended Lancaster public schools before enrolling at Worcester State College in Massachusetts (BEd 1953). Further graduate studies led to a MEd (1957) and a Doctorate (1970) from Boston University. From 1960-64, she taught in public schools in Massachusetts and for the U.S. Navy at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and Sigonella, Sicily.
From 1967 until 2001, her career as an educator was fulfilled at The University of Vermont as a professor of literacy and literature, with specialties in reading, gifted education and library science, where she enriched the lives of many, many students.
She enjoyed sabbaticals in Scotland and England at The University of Edinburgh (1975), Cambridge University (1985) and The University of Bath (1992 and 1999) and engaged in additional studies at The University of Arizona, The University of Toronto and Delhi, India. A lifelong quest for learning, and a curiosity of places and people, brought great richness to her life through travels across the globe, with a special fondness for England to which she returned again and again.
Through all of this, however, it was Vermont which remained at the center of her life providing a "Love of Place" and the solidity of home and family.
Between 1986 and June 2018, she enriched the state of Vermont through her work with The Vermont Humanities Council as a leader of countless book discussions and through first-person presentations of Beatrix Potter, Dorothy Canfield Fisher and Agatha Christie. Leadership roles and active participation in numerous professional organizations brought great satisfaction and included: the UVM Retired Faculty and Administrative Officers, Association of Retired Faculty in Higher Education (ARFHE), The Vermont Historical Society, Friends of the State House, Vermont Preservation Roundtable, D.K.G. Honor Society, PEO Chapter C, Antique Wooden Boat Society and Trinity Church, Shelburne. After her retirement from UVM, she derived great pleasure working as a docent at Shelburne Museum and at April Cornell in Burlington.
The greatest love of her life was her family: husband Richard D. Lang with whom she was married for 62 years; and their three sons and daughters-in-law Dustin (Christine) South Carolina and Vermont; Larson (Catherine) Glendale, Missouri; and Derryl (Jennifer) Hong Kong and Vermont. Her five grandchildren brought her great joy and pride, Alden and Charlotte, Hong Kong; Meredith, Glendale, Missouri; Taylor, Vermont; and Catherine, Boston.
In lieu of donations and in honor of her reverence of words, literature and reading, at her request, please read a book or give the gift of a book to a child.
A memorial service in celebration of her life will be held at All Souls Interfaith Gathering, 291 Bostwick Farm Road, Shelburne, Vermont, on Tuesday, Sept. 25, at 2 p.m.