Emma Lefors

In May 1884 Henry and Anna Thut, two children and Anna’s sister, Emma Lang, came to the stage stop. Their third sister, Lena, had married Alex Schneider and would arrive later.

As the Thuts and Emma left the train at Dodge City and approached the Panhandle by hack, they made overnight stops at ranches and line camps. One of the most memorable stops was at the Diamond F Headquarters where Perry LeFors was ranch foreman. He was a handsome cowboy, and as fate would have it, fell in love with the lovely Swiss girl, Emma Lang.

Perry LeFors was a frequent visitor while Emma was in the Thut’s home and later at Mobeetie where Emma stayed with Mrs. O’Loughlin. Emma met many of the prominent citizens there, lawyers and officers from the nearby Ft. Elliott, but Perry was always uppermost in her mind.

Three years after Perry met Emma they were married January 15, 1887. The wedding was in Mobeetie at the Huselby Hotel. Everyone in the Panhandle was invited and all envied Perry and his bride. Champagne was served at the wedding feast. All drank to the health and happiness of the couple, then danced the night away.

With an undying faith and courage of a real pioneer, Emma with her little girl Molita, two and a half years of age, closed the old home and went back to Frankfort, Kentucky to her sister, Lena, and family. A year later she returned to McLean and entered into social and church work. In 1918 Emma bought a house in Pampa, but she went to Los Angeles where Molita finished high school. Returning to Pampa in 1928, Emma organized the Christian Science Church, which met in her home at 311 N. Frost for over a year. Her philosophy for a long life was, “Keep your hands and mind filled with labor and love, your heart with charity,and faith in God.” She was honored many times over the years for her social and church work, also as ‘Good Neighbor’ and in 1952, by the naming of the local airport, the Perry LeFors Field, in memory of her late husband.

Emma passed away January 25, 1958, just before her 90th birthday. She is buried beside Perry and their daughters in Miami.

Emma was born March 4, 1868, Rhinefelden, Switzerland, to Anton and Babette (Speise) Lang. Anton was born in Vienna, Austria, and had lived in France before coming to Switzerland. The Langs were one of Rhinefelden’s most prominent families and were engaged in the furniture upholstering business, which had been an occupation of the family for over 100 years.

Vera, the eldest daughter of Perry and Emma, married a young surveyor, A.H. Doucette, and they lived a long and fruitful life in the evergrowing town of Pampa. Mr. Doucette died October 26, 1964, and Vera passed away 20 years later March 6, 1984, at the age of 96 years and 3 months.