George Lane

George Lane, 90 of Ft. Collins, CO died December 8, 2011. A visitation will be held from 3:00 until 7:00 Monday at Goes Funeral Care, 3665 Canal Dr., Suite E, Ft. Collins. Mass of the Resurrection will be celebrated at 1:30 pm Tuesday, Dec. 13th at St. Joseph Catholic Church. Interment immediate following the mass will be at Grandview Cemetery with full military honors. George Lane was born on November 21, 1921 in Boston, MA where he grew up. As WWII raged, George decided to enlist in the Army Air Corps; and received his pilot training in LaJunta, CO where he met his soon to be wife Zora Tucker. He was assigned to be a B24 Liberator pilot and was stationed in China as part of the famed "Flying Tigers." He flew numerous bombing missions over the South China Sea and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross with two Oak Leaf Clusters and the Air Medal with two Oak Leaf Clusters, both of which were presented to him by General Lynne Chenault. Upon return stateside, George used his veterans' benefits to enroll at, and graduate from, the Massachusetts Art Institute. This led initially to a job in Middletown, New Jersey as a commercial artist. This evolved quickly into a career in education, first as an art teacher at Middletown H.S. then as a principal at Harmony Elementary School. George retired from this career in 1976 and he and his wife, Zora, moved to Colorado where they spent winters in Fort Collins and summers at their mountain cabin. Always active, George drove school busses for the Poudre School District for twenty years. In 1985, Zora passed away. In 1988, George married Connie Kidneigh. He graciously accepted Connie's family as his own. In addition to his three children, Judith, David and Doreen, Connie's two daughters, Jodi and Lori; he has five grandchildren, David, Jennifer, Christina, Christopher and Michael; and two great-grandchildren, Ciera and Sabin. George was very active at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in various lay ministries. He participated in bible studies, in the Kiwanis Club and the Knights of Columbus. His genuineness, compassion and sparkling wit were characteristics George's nature. George fully used his artistic talents on the project of building a cabin and summer home on a ridge overlooking Mt. Meeker just outside of Allenspark, CO. For a decade, he designed the architecture during the winter while spending summers realizing every aspect of the cabin's construction and decoration. It was, for him, a personal expression of all his artistic skills and is, in itself, a work of art. George's family suggests that any memorial donations please be made to St. Joseph Catholic Church for the Meredith Hall Remodeling or the stained glass windows restoration in care of Goes Funeral Care, 3665 Canal Dr., #E, Ft. Collins, CO 80524.