Rio Grande City veterans to be honored at service

By Pasha Buck
Pastor, St. John UMC, Rio Grande City
By any definition, St. John UMC, Rio Grande City, is a small congregation. Still, seven members and one constituent are to be honored at worship Nov. 6, the Sunday before Veterans Day.
The veterans are Johnny Shufford, Boone LaGrange, Costo Bazan, John Buck, Bill Anderson, Norma Garza, Margaret Bendeck and Dave Brown. Their service spans from World War II in the 1940s through the Korean and Vietnam conflicts of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.
If you listen during each week’s adult Sunday school class, you can hear the untold stories of how these veterans grew in their Christian faith through all of their life experiences—even war.
Shufford earned Silver and Bronze stars, a Purple Heart with Clusters, a Combat Infantryman’s Badge and a “Thank You, America” certificate from the French government. Although he is not the only Purple Heart veteran in Rio Grande City, he is the one the church knows best.
Shufford is also a veteran member of St. John UMC. He serves with his wife, Helen, as co-chair of the Administrative Council and of the Fishers (NOMADS) Project, which rehabilitates homes of elderly and disabled Starr County residents.
Shufford’s faith sustained him through his service in Europe, where he served in Gen. George S. Patton’s 3rd Army Command as intelligence officer and at Utah Beach.
His faith also sustained him after war, when he came home to the Rio Grande Valley, first to teach other veterans the rudiments of dryland farming strategies in El Sauz and then to farm with his family.
That same trust had carried Shufford earlier through civilian life. He graduated from Texas A&M University, played professional baseball in the Class D league, married and had a family. He began a life of service through First UMC, Rio Grande City, and then with Helen as charter members of St. John UMC in 1979.
Faith and trust are still the hallmarks of Shufford’s life. Teaching and dairy farming with his parents gave way to irrigation agriculture on the north bank of the Rio Grande.
Along the way, he added volunteer service, especially with the Conservation Service and the Boy Scouts.
Shufford is a member of the Sports Hall of Fame in the Valley and of the Produce Hall of Fame. In October, he was named Pioneer Farmer of the Year by the Farm Bureau. The award is to be presented in December.
The Shuffords donate all the onions that St. John UMC sells as an annual fund raiser. (The church’s second fund-raising event is the November barbecue, which draws folks from all over the Valley.)