Frankfort, Kansas, Index
Thursday, July 16, 1959


Walter Earl Lane, son of James and Ella
(Williams) Lane was born June 18, 1878
on the homestead of his grandfather,
Harlow Williams, now a part of Frankfort
Kansas. He attended school in Frankfort
and where he grew to manhood.

At the age of 12 years Walter began playing
snare drum with the Frankfort town band,
under the leadership of Charley Weis. Under
Mr. Weis’s excellent tutelage, he soon
acquired professional skill and made music

On October 15, 1901 he was united in
marriage to Lillian Dotson son in Wichita
Kansas and they began their married life
in Frankfort.

For a time Walter was a member of the JOL
(Jud - Osborne - Lane) dance orchestra that
earned an enviable reputation for its superb
dance tempos up and down the Central
Branch and in the surrounding vicinity. In
1907 he and Curtis Osborne went to the state
of Washington, where they both played in
Orchestras at the Olympia. After a few
months he moved on to Goldfield, Nevada,
then to Oklahoma City and Kansas City
where he was the drummer at the Globe
theater during the heyday of Vaudeville
from 1921 to 1928 he played at the Orpheum
with greats like Bill Robinson, Jack Benny,
Burns and Allen, the Four Marx Brothers.

An expert piano technician he was kept busy
tuning and repairing pianos in a radius of
50 miles from Frankfort. He was still engaged
in this business at the end.

On July 6,1959 he and his wife were returning
from a business trip when he was seized with
a fatal heart attack, dying in the arms of his
faithful wife. He was 81 years, 18 days old.

Reverend Downer Hull conducted the funeral
services at the Frankfort Methodist Church on
July 9, 1959.

He leaves to mourn is death his wife, Lillian
of 57 years, cousins and nieces and other
relatives.

Pallbearers were all musicians, Nels Ingalsbe
Morse Feldhausen, Ernest McAtee, Ben
Perkins, Mike Hoover, George Fenwick and
Nick Livingston.

Interment was in the Frankfort Cemetery
Frankfort, Kansas with services by the
Masonic Lodge.