“He loved anything and everything about flying,” said Barbara Marzullo, who Lane taught to fly in 2001. “For John, a day wasn’t successful unless he spent part of it in the air.”
Lane was born in Turtlecreek Twp. on Aug. 24, 1924 to farmers Ralph and Irene Lane. He graduated from Lebanon High School and attended Ohio State before returning home to farm with his father. He received his private pilot’s license in 1950 after he and his father put a grass landing strip on the farm and built a hangar for Lane’s plane.
Lane married his first wife Joanne and started his own farm. He began giving private flying lessons based off the farm’s airport, the J&J Airport. His private lessons business was so successful, he ultimately left farming. In 1966, he donated 26 acres to Warren County which became the Warren County Airport on Greentree Road.
Lane logged more than 29,000 miles in the air, said his second wife, Nelda. He owned three small airplanes and was working on building a fourth at the time of his death. One of his prized possessions was a working replica of the Wright B Flyer, the Wright Brothers plane, that he would take to air shows around the country to fly, his wife said.
“We’ve flown all over the country,” Nelda Lane said. “To Alaska, to Florida, everywhere.”
Jaison Czaika, the director of maintenance at the Warren County Airport, said Lane was a fountain of knowledge and always eager to assist with problems.
“He was a guy who forgot more about planes than I’ll ever know,” Czaika said. “I loved to just sit and talk with him. We shared a lot of common interests and he knew so much. He was a guy that if you didn’t like him, there was something wrong with you.”
“I don’t think there’s a dry eye that’s come into the airport and seen the picture of John,” Marzullo said. “It’s almost impossible to think of this place without him,”
Besides his wife, Lane is survived by children, Jacqueline and Jerry, and two grandchildren.
Lane donated his body to Wright State University. A memorial service for him will be held at 2 p.m. on April 15 at the Otterbein Lebanon United Methodist Church, 585 N. Ohio 741. IN lieu of flowers, his family has asked for memorial contributions to be made to the Otterbein Lebanon UM church for the Wings of the Morning Mission.
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