When Jack London was buried, a gray-haired woman of Oakland read “Thanatopsis” and thereby kept a promise she had made the writer a number of years before. Nellie C. Lane, who died in your city a few weeks ago at 78 years, was an old friend of Jack London’s and from his early youth. She encouraged him in his career and received his thanks. The story is that in 1901, when Mrs. Lane was widowed, Jack read the Bryant poem at the services and was so impressed by the simple ceremony that a pact was made between him and Mrs. Lane that the surviving one should read it over the remains of the other. The husband was Jacob Cooper Lane, the youngest brother of Dr. Levy [Levi] Cooper Lane, founder of the Lane Hospital and the Cooper Medical College, now Stanford Hospital. Mrs. Lane lived in East Oakland for nearly fifty years, and it is said she was the first woman, after suffrage, to be admitted to a civic club composed of men. In civic work, particularly that connected with schools, parks, and libraries, she was long a forceful figure in her community. — The Knave.

Nellie Cleary Lane — young

Sarah Betsina “Betsy” Gleason Phelps

Brother of Dr. Lane Has Passed Away

Jacob Cooper Lane, brother of Dr. L. C. [Levi Cooper] Lane of Lane’s Hospital, San Francisco, died Thursday night [April 18] at his home, corner of Twentieth Avenue and East Twentieth Street [sic].  Deceased was a travelling man for a San Francisco wholesale house.  He had resided in Oakland about fourteen years, was a native of Indiana, aged 49 years, and leaves a wife [Nellie] surviving him.

As mentioned previously, Jack London was a close friend of both Jacob and Nellie. In fact, London read the William Cullen Bryant poem, “Thanatopsis,” at Jacob’s memorial service.

In two letters, written on the same day of Jacob’s memorial service – April 19, 1901 – London mentions that he was to attend a funeral. To Cornelius Gepfert, London wrote, “Must cut this short, as I’m going to a funeral right away.” To Cloudesley Johns, London wrote, “Have to go and read a poem over a coffin to satisfy the whim of a man who was quick and is now dead, so so long.” These two letters are found in The Letters of Jack London, edited by Earle Labor, Robert C. Leitz, III, and I. Milo Shepard. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1988. Volume 1: 1896-1905.

After the service, Jacob was cremated. His ashes were buried in Odd Fellows Cemetery in San Francisco. When the cemetery was closed sometime in the early 1930s, Jacob’s remains were moved to Greenlawn Memorial Park in Colma, California, about 11 miles south of San Francisco.

Even though Nellie was now a lapsed Mormon living in Oakland, she kept up her contacts with relatives and friends in Salt Lake City.  Her mother and brother continued to live in Salt Lake City until they both died there within days of each other in February 1916.

Nellie also had her hands full at home. She and Jacob’s adoptive daughter, Edithe, my grandmother, was only nine years old when Jacob died. Edithe continued attending local Oakland schools, graduating from high school in 1910 at age eighteen. That same year, she married Albert Edward Bogdon, a nineteen-year-old aspiring magician from Pittsburgh. A baby, my mother, was born the next year to be known years later as the actress Sally Phipps. When Albert deserted Edithe to pursue his magic career, Edithe put her baby in the care of her own mother, Nellie, and went to work. During a brief reconciliation with Albert, another baby was born, whom Edithe named Lane. After Edithe divorced Albert in 1917, she married Albert Sprague Beutler in 1922. She was then able to bring her family together to include both her daughter and son Lane.

During this period, Nellie became active, even prominent, in local Oakland clubs, including The Dennison Club, The Garfield School Mother’s Club, and The Twenty-Third Avenue Improvement Club. She was also active in civic matters, as evidenced by her involvement in the local school board and the chamber of commerce.  She participated in local elections and was listed in the local newspapers between 1914 and 1926 twenty times as an inspector, judge, or clerk in her precinct’s polling place. There are numerous newspaper articles reporting her activities, which today would be considered quite progressive and liberal for a woman of her day.  Being a true fighter, she frequently challenged the “powers that be” and won.