Charles Edward Lane, III's Obituary
Following high school, Chuck started his career with the Point Defiance Zoo, where he was hired by director Norm Winnick as a curator. Still in his teens, Chuck was a key figure in what became a nationally renowned program to preserve the American red wolf from extinction.
Chuck grew up outside his native Buffalo, N.Y., in a rural community that fostered his love of the outdoors and its inhabitants. He could as easily point out the garden habitat of a trap-door spider as identify a wildfowl passing overhead. When he moved with his parents and sisters, Kathy and Debbie, to Tacoma in the early 1970s, Chuck became an early advocate of the cleanup and restoration of Snake Lake, now the site of the Tacoma Nature Center.
The family home in a modest bungalow in pre-restoration Old Town bustled with wildlife, including a gregarious raccoon and an unfriendly python.
Chuck studied through an apprenticeship in the steamfitting trade, earning his journeyman’s card in Tacoma. Among his jobs was the creation of giant barges to house machinery modules at the North Slope oil discovery in Alaska. He also installed refrigeration equipment in many of the Tacoma-built oceanic fishing fleet. From that heavy-equipment industry Chuck down-sized his occupation. Chuck traded his hard-hat and leather gloves for a loupe, training to become a watchmaker and repairman. He operated in a small shop at the Tacoma Mall.
His life was not all work. Chuck was an avid reader and book collector. He was an accomplished artist and recently participated in sketch-outs with the Tacoma Urban Sketchers group. He was an active and engaged member of Tacoma Alliance Church. He immersed himself in Bible reading, in Greek and Hebrew as well as English versions. Chuck taught Sunday school and adult education and held the office of Sunday School Superintendent.
In recent years Chuck worked for the Tacoma Public Utilities/Hydrant Shop as a lead water service worker. He remained active there until late June, when he was hospitalized with cardiac problems. He died in the presence of his family at Tacoma General Hospital the morning of Friday, July 1, 2016. Survivors include his wife, Diane Appling-Lane, of Tacoma; a daughter, Margaret Ann Stapleton, of Fife; and a son, Charles E. Lane IV, of New Hampshire; his father, Charles E. Lane Jr., of Paso Robles, Calif.; two sisters, Kathy Lane, of Tacoma, and Debbie Lane, of Bountiful, Utah; an uncle and aunt, R. J. and Virginia Lane, of Tacoma; an aunt and uncle, Margaret and Grant Pittorf, of Amherst, N.Y., and eight grandchildren.
Memorial service: 3 p.m. Saturday, July 16, 2016 at the Tacoma Alliance Church, 2401 South Orchard Street, Tacoma
Interment service: Private service at Mountain View Cemetery in Lakewood
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