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Obituary for Ann C. Lane
Lane, Ann Cecile died in the arms of her four children Nov. 8, 2013, in Boulder County, CO, after a long illness. Ann was born in Shawano, WI, Sept. 15, 1934, to Elsie M. Larson and Gordon Peterson. Ann spent her childhood between the town of Shawano, and Shawano Lake, in the summers. She had one beloved sister, Karen Peterson Morse, who preceded her in death in 1999. Following the sudden death of her father in 1940, Ann and her mother and sister moved to Milwaukee, where her mother, Elsie Larson, became a pioneer female executive at the Wisconsin Gas Company and Ann graduated from Shorewood High School. Ann went on to the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she was a member of the Alpha Phi sorority and majored in English. While at Madison, Ann met Richard W. Lane, whom she married in 1955. They settled in Richard’s hometown of Janesville, WI, where they raised four children: Richard, Susan, James and Gretchen. A devoted mother, Ann was active in community life in Janesville, where she was elected to the Board of Education, and served on the Board of Directors of the Janesville YMCA and the Wisconsin Association of University Women. She was a successful businesswoman, co-founding both the Lane-Blackburn Art Gallery and Frame Shop in Janesville, in the late 70s. In 1980, Ann moved to Chicago, where she established an art dealership, Ann Lane Associates. For the next 25 years, Ann and her firm oversaw the acquisition and installation of hundreds of pieces of art in some of Chicago’s most elegant hotels and public spaces, as well as the creation of several significant personal collections. Ann’s particular expertise was in the American Ashcan School as well as 19th c. British Portraiture. In 1989, Ann received a certification in 19th c. English art from Sotheby’s International, New York. Ever the fit outdoorswoman, Ann never lost her deep love of the outdoors. She raised her children in the mountains of Colorado, and the forests and lakes of northern Wisconsin, and enjoyed a lifetime of adventures with her children and grandchildren skiing, hiking, backpacking, and fly fishing. It is impossible to remember Ann without marveling at the breadth of her love for life. She adored all of the arts, and was an enthusiastic patron of the Chicago Lyric Opera, the Chicago Art Institute, and the Chicago Symphony. A voracious reader, Ann was a part of many book and movie groups throughout her life, and, as with her deep faith, she never lost her intellectual curiosity. An excellent athlete, Ann was an accomplished golf and tennis player and played racquetball until the last year of her life. Ann is survived by her four children: Richard E. (Christine) Lane of Milwaukee, and Vail CO, Susan Lane York of Boulder CO, James P. (Elizabeth) Lane of Louisville, CO, and Gretchen Lane (Scott) Ecker of Mequon, WI; as well as nine grandchildren: Nicholas and Catherine Lane, Joshua and Benjamin York, Samuel, Elizabeth, and Madeline Ecker, and Richard and Katharine Lane, all of whom had the pleasure and privilege of much time with their beloved Nana; her longtime companion, Robert Pernau of Chicago; her community at the Fourth Presbyterian Church of Chicago, where Ann was a devoted parishioner; dear nieces and nephews: Kristen, Julie, Peter and Todd Morse, and many close cousins and lifelong friends.
Cemetery: Burial to follow services at the Oak Hill Cemetery, Janesville.
Service: A celebration of Ann’s life will be held at the FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, Janesville, Wisconsin.
