Over the years, Bill Lane has won the hearts and respect of his fellow residents.
NEW SHARON – The community is mourning the loss of a dedicated man.
Bill Lane, 61, a selectman for 19 years and an SAD 9 bus driver and custodian at Cape Cod Hill School, died suddenly last week.
He went in for day surgery for an umbilical hernia and just didn’t come out of the anesthesia, his daughter Wendy Lane Hauser said.
Hauser described her father as a “people-people person,”
“He had his fingers in a lot of different things,” she said.
Schoolchildren made cards and sent them to Lane’s wife, Donna, and the family.
The children and staff at the school took Lane’s death hard.
“It’s been very difficult,” Principal Cheryl Pike said.
Fortunately, the district has a crisis team that came in to help the children and staff grieving the loss of Lane, she said.
“We miss him,” Pike said. “He had a wonderful relationship with the kids.”
Pike said she’s still in a state of disbelief. Lane was the school’s daytime custodian.
Sometimes when a child needed something to do, Lane would find a special job for the child to do, Pike said.
Selectmen Maynard Webster and Jim Smith served with Lane for the years he served on the board.
The three worked as a team to oversee town business.
“That’s what made it so enjoyable,” Webster said. “He was a valuable member of the board and we’re going to miss him. We’ve always had a smooth functioning board.”
The men got along and even though at times they had different opinions, they worked out an amicable solution.
“We’ve always been working to keep taxes down while providing essential services,” Webster said. “We tried to make a smooth running town.”
Though the men shared some of the same duties, Lane managed the town’s insurance making sure it had the appropriate coverage and the best deal.
Lane was insurance man for many years.
“He always had a common sense approach and he always had a good sense of humor,” Webster said. “He was always making jokes.”
Lane was elected in March to serve another year.
Webster said at some point they’ll have a special town meeting to elect a new member of the board.
Hauser said her father was “a great example of how to live your life and give back to the community and the family.”
dperry@sunjournal.com
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.