Mary Lou Lane

Mary Lou Lane

1952-2025

Mary was born in Clearwater, Michigan in August of 1952, to Selah and Betty Reed. She moved to Prescott, Arizona in 1964 and lived in a humble cabin with her parents and brothers John and Fredrick Reed. She worked at ANCO near the Prescott airport which produced instruments for aircraft. She helped build prototype devices for evaluation for the engineering department. Her husband, Mike, started working at ANCO in 1976 and met Mary there. After working together for several years, we decided we were meant for each other and got married in 1982. Her first child, Benjamin, was born in August 1983; he was very premature and weighed only 2 pounds 13 oz. He was a born fighter and soon grew to be a strong young man. Her second child, Elisabeth, was born in October 1984. Mary and Michael decided to arrange work schedules so that Mary could be at home for the children while Michael worked.

She always enjoyed our family camping adventures using a pop-up tent trailer in the western part of North America. Due to several corporate mergers, we relocated to Olathe, Kansas in 1996 where the children finished school. Mary worked at Linens N Things at the Great Mall from the time it opened until the store ceased operations. She then worked at Kansas City Women’s Clinic for several years.

Mary had a deep faith in God and assisted faithfully at the churches we attended. We hosted a home group in our house for several years as co-hosts. Mary loved to help and encourage people she met and worked with and had a ready smile for everyone. She was a good organizer and had a knack for beautifully decorating our home for each holiday . After she retired she took up photography as a hobby and took many beautiful pictures of the wildlife and flowers that abound around Olathe. One of her pictures of a Bald Eagle was featured on the Wyandotte County calendar.

She fought a valiant battle with liver and pancreatic cancer and passed away at the Good Samaritan Nursing Home in Olathe on October 20, 2025. She is survived by her husband, Michael, and her children, Benjamin, and Elisabeth, and a brother, John Reed, in El Centro, California.