Audrey Langdon, who served as Public Relations Director for NRB and as an editor of the association’s monthly Religious Broadcasting magazine from 1974 to 1983, passed away on September 25, 2020, at the age of 93.
Langdon was responsible for managing NRB’s public and media relations during a time of industry expansion and growth in national and international influence. Her role earned her a membership in the U.S. Presidential Press Corps under President Gerald Ford.
Langdon also served as uncredited ghostwriter for the book The Electric Church (1979) by long-time NRB leader Ben Armstrong, detailing the rise and growth of Christian evangelical broadcasting ministries in the United States; the acknowledgments cited her for “tremendous assistance and invaluable research.”
Langdon was born in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, and grew up in Pittsburgh, where her father, Thomas C. Langdon, worked for more than four decades as an editor at the Pittsburgh Press. An alumna of the University of Pittsburgh, Langdon moved to New York City in 1949, working in public relations for the Colgate-Palmolive Company and as a freelance writer on beauty and fashion topics.
Langdon also worked in public relations for Air Reduction Company, Nopco Chemical Company, and other major chemical manufacturers. In the 1960s, she was an editor for American Baby magazine. She later wrote advertising copy for print and television, working for Madison Avenue advertising agencies. In the early 1970s, Langdon was a marketing writer for Avon Products, preparing materials and brochures for salespersons.
Through her volunteer work as newsletter editor for the Presbytery of Newark, New Jersey, Langdon was invited to join the press staff for the First International Congress on World Evangelization, held in Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1974. As a deacon, teacher, and elder at Third Presbyterian Church in Newark, she established a program that funded all expenses for inner city children to attend the church-sponsored summer camp in Johnsonburg, New Jersey.
After serving on staff at NRB from the association’s then-headquarters in Morristown, New Jersey, Langdon moved to Arizona, living first in Phoenix, where she worked for a Christian media agency and served on the pastoral staff at Wings of Faith Church. She moved to Tucson in 1988 and was a member of the counseling staff at Connections Vineyard Church. She studied theology at Drew University and Bloomfield College in New Jersey and at New York School of the Bible.
In 1998, her book, Dreams, Visions, and Spiritual Messages, was published.
Langdon was preceded in death by her parents, Thomas C. and Ruth M. Langdon of Pittsburgh and Tucson; and a sister, Joanne L. Pincus, of Monroeville, Pennsylvania. She is survived by her two children, Jawaid Awan (Patricia) of Salem, Massachusetts, and Sarah Awan Johnson of Caldwell, New Jersey; three grandchildren, Jashar Awan (Emily Eibel), Jordan Awan (Morgan Elliott), and Zoe Johnson; and one greatgrandchild, Maxwell Awan.
Funeral arrangements are through Desert Rose Heather in Tucson. In lieu of flowers, the family has asked that donations be made in memory of Audrey Langdon to First Adult Care: Staff Funds, 3825 North First Street, Tucson, AZ 85719.
