About Becky

Becky’s Gift was founded in memory of Becky Lang. We wanted to tell you a bit about this extraordinary young woman.

        

Born in 1982, Becky was the only child of Kathy and Bob Lang. From the start, she was full of surprises, arriving over three weeks late on April first!

Becky loved all animals. Her Brittany Spaniels Cricket and Trace were her constant companions. At 5 Becky had her first riding lesson. After lessons in swimming, gymnastics, ballet, skiing, and art, it was horseback riding that really took hold.

     

Her first horse was a leased gelding named Pride. At 13, a Morgan mare named Daisy (Gradel’s Delight) came into her life. Daisy and Becky did it all – they won many blue ribbons at Deerfield Fair and throughout New England, trail rode at Bear Brook and enjoyed riding on the beach in Hampton.

Growing up in Bow, Becky was the goalie for the school field hockey team and played catcher for the Bow town softball teams. She graduated with honors from Bow High and in 2000 began her college career at UNH where she was introduced to Archaeology, immediately falling in love with it. With her professor and several students, she traveled to Guatemala her sophomore year. They began the excavation of a Mayan temple deep in the rainforest.

     

She returned to Guatemala her senior year to assist with crew direction at the temple site that National Geographic described as the “Sistine Chapel of the Mayan Empire.” Becky graduated with honors from UNH in 2004 with a major in Anthropology, the umbrella for Archaeology.

Following graduation, she was invited to assist with a Mayan dig site in Colombia. Before leaving, she got her certification for ocean diving in Honduras, as many Mayan temples are located by water sites.

Returning home, she received notification of her acceptance, and a full scholarship, to the Doctorate Program at the University of California, a top Mayan Research program in the US. Then it was off to California, driving cross country with another archaeology student.

After a phone call home, they were driving through the night, when a rabbit appeared in the road. Swerving to miss it, a tragic accident happened. As a helicopter was airlifting her to the hospital, Becky died on September 20, 2005. She was just 23 years old. Becky’s life was full and well lived, but much too short.

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Becky’s parents started an endowment fund at UNH in Becky’s name. The Rebecca Jane Lang Fund has assisted many future Archaeology students attend dig sites across the world.

 But there was still a part of Becky’s heart that needed fulfillment. So with dear horse friends that were close to Becky, the all volunteer 501C3 Becky’s Gift Equine Relief Fund was founded.

Becky’s Gift has been very busy since 2009 and our assistance has helped hundreds of New Hampshire horses. Becky’s memory will live on in all the support and assistance she has given to others. Our mission and work is truly a wonderful legacy of her life.