Mary Anne Lane
Mary Anne Lane was born December 17, 1947 in Marshalltown, Iowa. She is the daughter of Wayne and Rosetta Rush McGehee. Mary Anne graduated from Mount Ayr Community high school in 1966. On June 5, 1966 she was united in marriage to Roger Lane at the First Christian Church in Mount Ayr. Mary Anne and Roger farmed near Mount Ayr until 1987. Mary Anne lived in Cordova, Tennessee until the untimely death of Roger in 2006; she then moved to West Des Moines, Iowa to be closer to her daughters. Mary Anne worked for the law offices of Shapiro & Kirsch for the past 11 years, where she was the bankruptcy manager and then transferred to the senior compliance officer position when she moved to Iowa and worked remotely.
Mary Anne loved living on the family farm for 21 years but fate took the family to Memphis, Tennessee in 1987. She had lived most of her adult life with illness, but nine months after being in Memphis she received a liver transplant that gave her an additional 24 years to spend with her family. Mary Anne was very compassionate and generous to anyone in need. Even with all the trials she had in her life, she felt very blessed. She loved her children and grandchildren more than anything and cherished every moment she was able to spend with them.
She looked forward to the summers when her grandchildren would spend the week with her. They affectionately called her ‘Nana’ and had a great love for her. She had a love for reading and has fond memories of the Mount Ayr Public Library. She also had a great love for watching sports but most importantly loved watching her granddaughter, Olivia, play softball and basketball. She had a deep religious faith that she instilled in her children. She was an elder in the Community of Christ Church.
Mary Anne died after a very short illness on April 9, 2012 at Mercy Hospice in Johnston, Iowa. She was preceded in death by her husband, Roger Lane; mother, Rosetta ‘Gigi’ McGehee, and her brother, Chuck McGehee.
Those left to cherish the memories they shared with Mary Anne are her dad, Wayne McGehee of Mount Ayr, Iowa; her son, Lance Lane and wife Christina of Emporia, Kansas; daughters, Christy Hofsaess and husband Todd of Winterset, Iowa and Lisa Carlson and husband Todd of New Virginia, Iowa; six grandchildren, Brandon and Miranda Lane, Olivia and Cadi Carlson and Colton and Carly Hofsaess, and brother-in-law, Marvin Lane and wife Melanie of Overland Park, Kansas.
A memorial fund has been established to the Mount Ayr Public Library. Watson-Armstrong Funeral Home in Mount Ayr was in charge of the services.
Services were held at the Community of Christ Church in Mount Ayr on Friday, April 13, 2012, with Evangelist Kenn Phillips officiating. Musicians were Mary Davenport, Margaret Bickers and Nancy Sackett.
Casket bearers included Derald Noble, Ben Knapp, Dan Oetzel, Scott Lane, Brad Lane and David Lookadoo.
Honorary pallbearers were Marvin Lane and Jeremy Lipford.
Mary Anne was laid at rest in the Rose Hill Cemetery in Mount Ayr, Iowa.
