Steven Connor Langford

of Melbourne, Arkansas

Steven Connor Langford passed away peacefully on June 25, 2025, in Ash Flat, Arkansas after succumbing to complications from heart and kidney failure at the age of 82.  Steve was born December 18, 1942, in Atlanta, Georgia. He was the second of four children born to Joseph Roy Langford and Marjorie Hutchison Crawford. Steve was a champion discus and shot-put athlete at Chamblee High School in Chamblee, Georgia. After graduating high school, Steve voluntarily enlisted in the United States Army in 1966 serving in Europe and then Vietnam as a senior advisor under the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV). He was an expert in logistics and armory operations and attained the rank of Sergeant First Class and received multiple commendation medals including the Vietnam Cross of Gallantry.  He returned to Atlanta after being honorably discharged in 1969. Steve subsequently held a variety of positions, such as ice cream delivery truck driver for Greenwood Ice Cream and head chef and manager of Everybody's Pizza near Emory University.  In 1980 he joined the Georgia Army National Guard, where he served as an armorer and Supply Sergeant, eventually achieving the rank of Master Sargent with the 170th Military Police Battalion.  He retired from the Georgia Army National Guard in 1990 and then worked as a firearms specialist for FATS (Firearms Training Systems) – the first company in the world to produce interactive firearms training simulations for law enforcement and the military.  After retiring from FATS, Steve worked for many years at Chuck's Firearms in Atlanta, Georgia, where he shared his substantial expertise in and love of Model 70 Winchester rifles with customers.  In 2007, he and his then wife Vicki moved to Melbourne, Arkansas where they raised chickens and guinea hens.

Steve was a man of varied interests and passions. He was a championship pistol marksman in the state of Georgia, a champion powerlifter, an avid fisherman and outdoorsman who loved the streams near Helen in the Smoky Mountains of North Georgia. He was an avid lover of dogs, particularly German Shorthaired Pointers, and classic literature including Ernest Hemingway, Rudyard Kipling, and poetry, especially the works of Robert Service and the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. He was a woodworker and bread baker and was regarded by his children and grandsons as being an excellent biscuit baker.  He had a deep of love firearms and at one point held a definitive collection of Winchester Model 70 rifles – at least one from each year of production – and an extensive collection of RandallMade knives.  He also had a deep affinity for the Eastern Band of Cherokee and collected handmade historic baskets including white oak and rivercane baskets woven by Emma Taylor and Rowena Bradley.

He is survived by one daughter:  Natalie Kenealy and husband James of Fairfax, Virginia; two sons:  Thomas Langford and wife Lauren of New Haven, Connecticut, Tom Marshall and wife Chisa of McCleary, Washington; one stepson:  Christopher Meehan of Cherokee Village, Arkansas; two sisters:  June Spruell (Bobby) of Duluth, Georgia, Debbie Collins (David) of Clemson, South Carolina; five grandchildren:  Ryan Kenealy, Harrison Langford, Courtney Marshall, Connor Marshall, and Christian Marshall; his best friend Vicki Webb of Westfield, Massachusetts and his beloved dog Lily. He was lucky to count many across the world and locally in Arkansas as his friends and family.  He was preceded in death by his parents, his brother Joseph Roy Langford III, his stepson Matthew Meehan, and his treasured dog Rose.

In accordance with his wishes, the family will scatter his ashes privately in North Georgia later this year.  In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Southeast German Shorthaired Pointer Rescue at https://www.segsprescue.org.