A Tribute To Lloyd Lane
By Aileen McWilliam
April 17, 1975
Another voice is stilled in Polk County and a void has come into our lives. Lloyd Lane, 69, died Saturday night just before midnight.
Lloyd was the son and grandson of Polk County pioneers. In the early days of settlement in the county Grandfather Dill Lane homesteaded in the Old Potter neighborhood on what is now the Montgomery property around the Pine Bowl, and Grandfather John B. Graves homesteaded the ridge on Iron Mountain where Lloyd and Inez Lane have made their home. Lloyd was born on the "old place," as he always called it, homesteaded by his parents, Ruff and Arthusia Lane, near Two-Mile Creek.
Growing up on a pioneer homestead, he was always close to nature and the soil, but there wee books in the home and music, and the expression of strong moral and spiritual values. And there was independence and respect for others.
Born with a questioning mind, Lloyd examined many creeds and philosophies, weighing all, and testing. In the end he was his own man, independent as few of us have the courage to be. He had the blended strength of conservative and liberal philosophies, a loving concern for people–all kinds of people–a tenderness, a reverence for the good things of the past, a hopeful and eager look to the future, and a joy in the day at hand.
Seeming to some people aloof from the mainstream of modern life, Lloyd was, nevertheless, very much with it. He was a teacher–the first teacher and principal in the "new" rock building of the Old Potter School, now the Old Potter community house. He also taught in Calhoun County, Arkansas. He served in World War II, spending two years in England with the 384th Bomb Group, a group that came home with a proud record and a sense of their place in history that has let them to step up the frequency of their conventions in which they gather every two years from almost all states of the Union. Lloyd's squadron, the 544th, have gathered at the Lanes on several occasions, a group of men as close as brothers.
Lloyd had the special knack of being able to talk with the people, to use their language, finding rapport with young and old alike. He was president of the Polk County Historical Society and co-author with Aileen McWilliam and Homer Johnston of the Talimena Scenic Drive Guide, a book featuring some of the lore into which he constantly delved. At his death he was writing a weekly column for The Looking Glass. He was Chairman of the Board of the Talimena Scenic Drive Interpretive Association, President of the Rich Mountain Chapter of the American Association of Retire Persons, immediate past president of the Polk County Farm Bureau (an office he held eight years), a member of the Polk County Fair Board since 1932, a Justice of the Peace on the Quorum Court for a number of years, and was active in the Mena Nature club, the Arkansas Audubon Society, the Ozark Society, Arkansas and Polk County Retired Teachers Associations, and the Western Arkansas Planning and Development Council.
On his last day Lloyd had pancakes and sausage at the Son-Light Center open house, then led a trip of the Mena Nature Club to Hatton where the Victor Cooks took over. The group visited the head of Pryor Creek to take a look at the spring wildflowers, then spread a picnic lunch, always a delight to Lloyd, under the pines at the Cooks.' After lunch there was a pilgrimage to the top of Whiskey Peak–Lloyd had never been there before and took special joy in seeing this one famous spot in Polk County new to him, with the view of Polk County in its spring greening spread below. It was a perfect spring day. The sky was blue and cloud-dappled till sunset. Dinner with neighbors, the Ahlbecks, preceded the Sound Generation Concert. At the close of the concert Lloyd was in high spirits. An hour and half later, at the log cabin home where he lived with Inez, his wife, Lloyd's life came to an end. He lived simply; he lived fully. His friends–all of us– are the losers.
Mrs. Arthusia Lane
(undated clipping)
Mrs. Arthusia Lane
Funeral service for Mrs. Arthusia Lane, 301 Seventh Street, 84-year-old pioneer resident of this area and widow of the late Ruff B. Lane, who died Nov. 6, was held Sunday afternoon at two o'clock in the Beasley-Wood Chapel, wit the Rev.Winford Skinner officiating. Interment was in the Gann cemetery under the direction of the Beasley-Wood Funeral Home.
Casket-bearers were Billy Moore, J.C. Lawless, Paul Guinn, Phil Lance, Forrest Ogden, J.W. Hubbard, W.A. Hensley, Sr., and Harry Ahlbeck. Honorary casket-bearers included Arthur Bell, Floyd Willyerd Ode Turner, Richard Davis, Billy Gilbert, Paul Gore, Floyd Ward, Gene Messick, Art Perry and Robert Hodges.
Mrs Lane was born Nov. 8, 1884, ear what is now the City of Mena, being the daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. John B. Graves. She was married on Dec. 20, 2900, here in Mena, to Ruff B. Lane, who preceded her in death on July 13, 1959.
Survivors include four sons, Harry, Ross, Lloyd and Curtis Lane, all of Mena; one daughter, Miss Winifred Lane, New York City; one brother, Bryon Graves, Flora Ill one sister, Mrs. Kama Graves Biggs, Bryson, Texas; also many nieces and nephews.
Out-of -town relatives who attended the funeral were Mr. and Mrs. Bryon Graves, Flora, Ill, Mrs. Guy Lane, Mr. and Mrs. Floyd Lane, Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Guy Lane and Mr and Mrs. W.B. Stiewig, all of McAlester, Okla., Mr. and Mrs. Billy Moore and children, Missie and William David, Fayetteville, and Mr. and Mrs. A. W. Kilbury, Geraldine Allen and Mabel Shreve, all of Little Rock, and Miss Winifred Lane, New York, City