Sadie
Lane
Bequest:
Fostering the Future of Scientific Inquiry
 |
Opposites
attract: Frank and Sadie Lane celebrate at their wedding reception
in 1952.
|
Sadie Mae Ramsey
was born in 1908 and grew up with three older siblings in Colorado.
A lively, extroverted young woman, Sadie loved to dance, and eventually
landed an office job at the prestigious Perry-Mansfield studio in Steamboat
Springs, where many professional dancers studied. This ideal arrangement
afforded Sadie opportunities to attend classes and teach tap, ballet
and interpretive dancing. On occasion, she also performed with the Denver
Ballet.
Sadie met her first
husband, William F. Ayer, in Denver. America was struggling through
the Depression era, and the couple courted for seven years before they
felt they could afford to get married. Free concerts in the parks became
one of their favorite pastimes. Ayer went on to become a vice-consul
to Northern Ireland during World War II but died there unexpectedly.
Sadie returned to the United States in 1947 and shortly thereafter moved
to Albuquerque to be near her family. She worked in the personnel office
at Kirtland Air Force Base and moved in with her sister, Eleanor Parks,
while working on her bachelor of arts degree in education at UNM.
 |
| Caption: Sadie
Lane, 1986. Credit: Olan Mills |
In the late 1940s
it was not unusual for folks to rent out a spare bedroom and provide
meals for strangers. Mrs. Parks took in an earnest young man named Frank
O. Lane, Jr., who was completing his master's degree at the University
of New Mexico. A native of New Mexico, Frank was born in 1919 in Rincon
and graduated as salutatorian of his class at Mountainair High School.
A talented mathematician and scientist with a bachelor of science degree
in chemistry, he served with the Army's 10th Weather Squadron as a forecaster
in the region of the Himalayas, and was discharged in 1945 with the
rank of captain.
Before very long,
Sadie and Frank seemed to prove the theory that opposites attract. The
serious young scientist proposed to the bright, gregarious woman and
they married in 1952. Frank went to work for the Sandia Corporation
(now Sandia National Laboratories) while Sadie became a homemaker and
an active church volunteer. Frank was also an expert gardener and they
both enjoyed working in their North Valley garden.
"Sadie learned
how to drive after she married Frank," recalls Frances Haussamen, Sadie's
niece. "At first she was reluctant, but Frank insisted that she learn.
Then she really took to it, and drove her first car, a Valiant, until
it couldn't be repaired any more because parts were no longer available."
Although they had
no children of their own, Sadie loved interesting people and conversation
and always reveled in large family gatherings while Frank quietly mentored
their young nieces and nephews in math, soil culture and gardening.
His mission was to instill in the younger generation an appreciation
for scientific principles.
Frank finished
all his Ph.D. course work except for his dissertation and retired from
Sandia in 1966. In 1990 the Lanes moved to the Manzano del Sol retirement
community. "Sadie loved and studied music, and took piano lessons well
into her 80s," says Haussamen. "She was very generous and could always
find something good in people."
Sadie never expected
to outlive her husband, as she was 11 years older, but Frank died in
1997. Sadie continued to live independently, with her characteristic
good humor, even though her eyesight began to fail and reading, which
she dearly loved, became impossible.
Sadie died at
92 years of age, just before Christmas of 2000. In her will she left
a generous bequest to the University of New Mexico, establishing the
Frank O. and Sadie M. Lane Endowed Scholarship. It was Frank's wish
to encourage the study of science and they agreed that this scholarship
should benefit women interested in pursuing these fields of study. With
this University-wide general scholarship, the Lanes have left a legacy
that will perpetuate their love of life and learning.
UNM Foundation
Inc.
Two Woodward Center
700 Lomas Boulevard NE
Albuquerque, NM 87131
505-277-4503
1-800-UNM-FUND
Fax: 505-277-4435
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