James Jerome Johnson Sr. (and wives)
Dorothy and Jim Johnson
Jim Johnson Sr. was a truck driver, and he drove between Portland and Pendleton, Oregon. He would stop and eat at a restaurant in Sandy, where he met Dorothy Lane, who was a waitress there. They were married on October 26, 1940. Together they were blessed with 3 children. James Jerome Jr. (8-25-41), Dorean Marie (7-1-43), and Donna Mae Ellen (1-17-45). Sadly, Dorothy died on April 7, 1947 due to complications during surgery for thyroid problems.
Jim, Rose, Donna, Dorean, and Jim Johnson
Eventually Jim remarried. It is rumored that he married not for love, but to have a mother for his children. His second wife was named Rose. I don’t know much about her, not even her date of birth… Jim and Rose had two more children; Denise and Dolores. Dolores was a sickly child, and she died when she was four years old… Jim and Rose would eventually get divorced. I do not know what happened to her or Denise.
In 1974 Jim got married for the 3rd time to Luellen. Luellen was born on January 3rd, in aprox 1925. She had 4 grown children of her own, though only one survives. Her sons were killed in a car-train wreck when they were very young… They were married until Jim died after a motorcycle accident on September 12, 1984. His blood wouldn’t clot and he bled to death. (I think he had Luekemia)
Dorothy Mary Lane
Dorothy Mary (Lane) Johnson
Dorothy Mary Lane was born on October 8, 1918 and departed this life at Portland, Oregon on April 7, 1947, aged 28 years, 5 months, and 30 days.
For the first 17 years of her life she lived in Arthur County, where she attended grade school and also 2 years of high school.
In January 1936 she moved with her parents to Oregon where she graduated from Gresham Union High School.
In 1937 she gave her life to the Savior and became a member of Haley Baptist Church, a faith and dedication to which she always remained true.
On October 26, 1940 she was united in marriage to James J. Johnson of Portland, Oregon. To this union was born three children; James Jr., Dorean, and Donna Mae.
Dorothy was a loving wife and a fond mother and a true and steadfast friend to all who knew her.
She was always kind, always willing and glad to sacrifice her own happiness and comfort to enhance the joy of others.
The Louie Lane Family
Louie Robert Lane and 7 month old daughter, Dorothy Mary Lane
Louie and Gladys had 6 children:
Dorothy Mary Lane
Born :: October 8, 1918 in Hayes Center, Nebraska
Died :: Spril 7, 1947 in Gresham, Oregon
Donald Glenn Lane
Born :: July 11, 1920 in Nebraska
Charlotte Vesta Pearl Lane
Born :: May 20, 1922 in Nebraska
Died :: July 20, 2003 in Boring, Oregon
Emma-Dee Joan Lane
Born :: September 30, 1928
Robert Harry Lane
Born :: October 23, 1931
Madean Hilma “Liberty” Lane
Born :: December 11, 1936
Died :: April 21, 2001 in Gresham, Oregon
The Louie Lane Family
The Louie Lane Family
Lane-Hillman Wedding
Description :: This is from the local newspaper, about their wedding.
Date :: 03 June 1917
Location :: Hayes Center, Nebraska
A very quiet home wedding occurred at the farm home of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Hillman, northeast of town last Sunday, June 3 at high noon when their daughter, Gladys Mae, was united in marriage to Louie R. Lane of Arthur County; the Reverend J. W. Gress tieing the nuptial knot in the presence of about twenty-five close friends and relatives.
The bride wore an embroidered net dress over cream chiffon. She is one of Hayes County’s choicest young ladies and is respected by all. She was a junior in the Hayes County High School the last year.
The groom wore a suit of dark brown serge. He is the eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. David Lane. He is a very energetic, young ranchman of Arthur County where he went over a year ago and settled upon a section homestead and has fitted up a home where he and his young bride will embark on their matrimonal voyage with the best wishes of a large circle of friends. They departed yesterday for the homestead via covered wagon.
Charles Thieman Lane
Charlie Lane
Sixth child and fifth son of David and Mary Lane.
Charles Thieman Lane, born 24 Jun 1910 in Hayes County, NE. Charles was raised at various locations in Nebraska before the family got settled on the ranch in Arthur. Certainly sibling rivalry is nothing limited to current times. As the “baby” in the family, with a couple of domineering older brothers and his sister giving lots of orders, Charles always remembered some rough times in childhood. “Annie kept getting after me about learning my times tables,” Charles said in 2007. “But maybe I was too busy watching the squirrel sneak into the classroom through a hole in the sod wall. We were in double seats, Wayne Rook (a ranching neighbor boy) and I were in the same seat and sometimes it was hard to pay attention to my studies.”
There were no telephones in those days, so when Charles and his neighbor and classmates, the Rook boys, wanted to plan some fun, Charles would have to ride his horse the mile to the Rook ranch, the boys would plan the activity and get parental permission — if chores would get done first — and then the activity would be the following day. A favorite in the summer, either with the Rook boys or with brother Orlie, would be a day in the soft sand at the top of “Old Raggie Top” (a landmark hill on the ranch). Blowouts were areas where vegetation wouldn’t grow, usually because of wind erosion or overgrazing or repeated vehicle traffic. Not often would there be a blowout on the top of a hill, but there was on Old Raggie Top, and the sand in that blowout made a fine play area.
However, Charles did remember, years later, some problems getting to the top of that hill — “a big old white-faced bull, right on the path where we wanted to go.” All ranch children had a healthy respect for bulls. Charles said that anything a bull feels it can dominate, which includes kids, the bull will try to dominate. And if you wore any red, that would aggravate the situation even more.
Other recreation came on Sunday afternoons. Church service was at the school house, but in good weather, if it wasn’t harvest time, there were potluck dinners following church at a nearby ranch. That was the community social life … that and the Saturday night dances, with music by a harmonica player, who sometimes ended up playing all night long. (No recorded music nor portable boom boxes existed back then.)
For his 7th and 8th grade years, Charles attended the one-room schoolhouse nearest the ranch while helping there on the ranch with the family. His father hired a teacher named John F. Coles with the understanding that Mr. Coles could teach Charles the approved 9th grade classes without having to go away to high school. That didn’t work out; the following year when Charles went to the town of Arthur to board and attend high school, they wouldn’t accept any of his ninth-grade credits (algebra was a snap the second time around, though). The first few months in Arthur, Charles boarded in a blacksmith shop, literally, doing chores which included raking cobs in the pig-pen. As the weather began to cool, it was obvious the blacksmith’s shop was not suitable living quarters, so other arrangements were made and Charles joined some other students who roomed with Mrs. Martin in a baled hay house for the remainder of his four years, graduating from Arthur County High school in 1930 and from Kearney State Teacher’s College (now University of Nebraska at Kearney) at Kearney, NE with a bachelor’s degree, graduating in 1936. Charles said it took 5 years at college because of his full-time work schedule with the college farm. Brother Oral had worked for the college farm first, but when Oral decided to go to California, he set Charles up with the job. No milking machines in those days, so Charles had to milk from 5 till 7 a.m. and 4 till 6 p.m. daily, even though the herd was typically only 8 cows. Then there were the related chores of cleaning the milking equipment, driving the truck down to the cafeteria at the women’s dorm to deliver the milk, and occasionally helping with the pigs in the next field or managing the hay mows to avoid weather damage to the three or four cuttings a year from the adjacent alfalfa fields.
After graduation, Charles taught all grades at a one-room school house in Arthur County for the 1937-1940 academic years, until his parents asked him to come to Sandy, OR to help them at the Rose Cafe in 1940. It was County School District #34J, which had been taught by Charlie Wilson for the 1935-36 school term, following on the heels of Dorothy Temple, who taught there for the 1932-33 year, with 19 students, and the day classes were done, May 12, 1933, she married Reuben Carlholm. The Carlholms remained neighboring ranchers to the Lanes for many years.
Charles remembers having a school “band” with whatever instruments were available, including drums, horns, a fife, piccolo, ukulele and a simple wind instrument similar to the “recorders” later used in many elementary school music programs.
Charles married on 21 Feb 1942 in Sandy, OR to Nellie Arlene [Clapp], fifth oldest of eight children of Ross and Amanda Clapp. Nellie was born 9 Apr 1923. The Clapp family was originally from Watertown, S.Dak. and moved to Sandy, OR in 1938. He helped found a volunteer fire department for the city of Sandy. Charles served in the U.S. Army 4th Infantry Division as a front-line medic in the European Theatre in World War II, 1944-1945, returning to Sandy, OR to work for the local school district for 32 years, primarily as teacher/principal at the grade school.
Charles said, in 2006, “I believe competitive sports were introduced into Sandy Elementary School in the early 1940s and a county league was formed.” This Clackamas County League was made up of several schools about the same size as Sandy, including Estacada, Colton, Mollala, Concord, Gladstone, Willamette, Sunset, and others.
In addition to being the eighth-grade teacher and head teacher, he at times also served as bus driver, Scoutmaster of Troop 248, coach for boys’ baseball and basketball and girls’ softball and volleyball; student council advisor, and school activities coordinator. In this later role, he helped establish eighth-grade banquets, grade school graduation exercises, an annual masquerade party, and an annual miniature “hot rod race.”
About 1957, after all three daughters were in school, they moved from a home near the west end of Dunn Road to 310 Hood Street, a few blocks from the grade school in Sandy. About 1979, after the daughters all had married, Charles and Nellie moved again, two blocks distant, to a larger home at Hood and Scales Street, where they remained for nearly 25 years. After retiring from the public school system, Charles worked part time for 13 years as a lab supervisor in the jewelry-making facility at Mt. Hood Community College in Gresham, 1976-1988. His hobbies of rock-hounding and jewelry making were combined to produce many hand-made items with semi-precious stones and inlayed enameling; one of his specialties was a jewelry form known as cloisonné. Their three daughters each followed Charles’ profession of teaching. Both Charles and Nellie are still living as of 2007, at CherryWood Retirement Center in Portland.
Revisiting the Past 