ESTHER GERALDINE (NICHOLS) LANE

December 27, 2019

LIBERAL- Services will be held at 2 p.m. Monday, Dec. 30, 2019, at Verdella Freewill Baptist Church near Liberal for Esther Geraldine (Nichols) Lane, 90, Liberal, who died Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2019, after a brief illness. Rev. Randy Sprenkle and family friend Deacon Jeffrey Mann will officiate.

Arrangements are under the direction of Konantz Warden Funeral Home, Lamar.

Memorials may be made to the OATS Transit Service of Missouri.

Condolences may be left online at www.konantzwarden.com.

Survivors include a son, Scott Lane and wife Heather and grandsons, James Devon Lane and Dawson Lane, all of Moscow Mills; grandson, Brian Raper and wife Kimberly, Coffeyville, Kan.; great-grandsons, Andrew Raper and Shawn Raper; a brother, William Nichols and wife Sharen, Wichita, Kan. and a brother-in-law, Larry Lane and wife Carol, Wichita, Kan.

She was preceded in death by her husband, David Edward Lane and an infant son, Troy Edward Lane.

Mrs. Lane was born a coal miner’s daughter in Yale, Kan. on July 8, 1929, to Jacob and Elizabeth (Harrison) Nichols. She married David Lane on October 24, 1964, at the Pittsburg Church of Christ and they shared 45 years of marriage.

Mrs. Lane lived a vibrant life, enjoying fine arts and culture, while always choosing to live a small-town life. She was a 1947 graduate of Mindenmines High School and went on to study elementary and secondary education at Kansas State College of Pittsburg, where he held a bachelor’s in education. Both she and her husband were lifetime members of the Pittsburg State University Alumni Association. After college Mrs. Lane worked briefly as a teacher in Wichita, Kan., but after marriage she joined her husband in operation of the family business, Lane Kennels in Liberal. They eventually took over full operation of the business from the early 1970’s until the mid 1990’s. The kennels trained and sold hunting dogs to well-known people around the world.

They were supporters of the arts in both Southwest Missouri and Southeast Kansas and were both founding board members for the Friends of the Southeast Kansas Symphony. Mrs. Lane was especially active in hospitality for orchestra events and concerns, coordinating countless receptions to honor classical musicians both local and international. She was also a local costume designer, working with both Pittsburg State University Opera Theater department, as well as Pittsburg Community Theater. Her love of fashion eventually led her to work for Famous Barr in Joplin, which ultimately became Macy’s. She worked in the children’s wear department there for well over a decade, retiring in 1980.

She enjoyed weekly trips on the OATS bus to Lamar to enjoy lunch at the senior center and to do her weekly shopping.

She loved talking about her grandsons and could name every cat she had by their sometimes colorful names. She was also an avid St. Louis Cardinal baseball fan and more recently had grown to enjoy watching hockey, especially during the St. Louis Blues Stanley Cup championship series.



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