Ted Lane and David Lane

00:05 My name is David Lane. I am 47 years old today is March 3rd 2011, and I'm here in Atlanta, Georgia with my dad.

00:16 My name is Ted Lange. I am presently 67 but in three weeks I'll be 68 today is March 3rd, and I'm in Atlanta, Georgia with my son David.

00:28 Okay, dad. First of all, thank you very much for very willing to do this with me. One of things. I'd like to start off with is really your birth. Can you tell me a little bit about where you were born? And when you were born I was born course in March 1943.

00:47 And Corryton, Tennessee, and I was actually born at home on my grandfather Rouses, Mule Ranch.

00:55 And this is my mom's father.

01:01 It's kind of a note sidenote, but your mom was also born at home.

01:06 11 months after I was and about 30 miles away from me that the reason I mention this is because

01:14 How much later in our lives we had to get some birth certificates. For some reason. We got those and found out that we both were delivered at home by the same doctor.

01:27 And what's your earliest memory as a boy?

01:32 Well when I was a boy, my father was in the Navy part time and we moved around a lot. So when I was very young, I have very fragmented memories because we did have lots of different places we lived.

01:47 We lived in Tennessee Knoxville, Tennessee for a couple of times. That's where my family my mom and her family really originally from that area. We also lived in Weaverville, North Carolina, which is outside of Asheville.

02:03 And we lived in look just outside of Myrtle Beach Florida. I'm sorry Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and Charleston, South Carolina and Jacksonville, Florida. Those are the main cities.

02:14 Except my father was in the Navy.

02:17 I have these little snapshots when I was trying to think about early thoughts. I probably can remember back when I was maybe four.

02:27 Three or four or five somewhere in that region.

02:30 And I have memories of my mom taking me to daycare center.

02:35 And running after her along the chain-link fence trying to get her to come back and get me.

02:41 But this was probably at a time and my mom and dad were about to get it there first divorce and I think I was having those anxiety attacks as far as being left behind.

02:53 But I also have the strange memory of puppet show outside of house when I was very young sitting on my mom's lap and this neighborhood was kind of strange and Weaver to bring it up because it was a lady that lived in the apartment building with us that lived on the second floor who had a little dog and she would lower that dog down in a basket and let him get out do his business come back get the basket and I thought that was the funniest thing in the world and it's strange that I saw that on a movie.

03:22 Not too long after that you're not but not too long after that, but not too long ago.

03:31 Other than that I stay with my grandparents my maternal grandparents arouse a lot when I was young by Yung child, and a lot of my memories of my childhood are at my grandparents house, which I really enjoyed. It was a place of unbelievable resources for my imagination house. Now. Where was that, Knoxville, Tennessee, Washington Avenue?

04:01 Something you said earlier prompted me wondering. How did your mom work when you were young or did she stay at home? No, she she started working very early in my childhood.

04:15 And primarily because of finances my father didn't make much money in the Navy and he wasn't in the Navy all the time. He was in the Navy during World War II got out.

04:29 And re-entered again during the Korean War and they got out. So he never really retired from the Navy.

04:35 That was one reason we moved around a lot and my father took a lot of different jobs.

04:40 He was not blessed sold. It was not that educated because he had to quit school when he was in the second grade to stay home and help his father take care of the farm, which was pretty common back then.

04:54 At what was your relationship with your parents?

04:58 I had a very good relationship with my mother.

05:02 She was always very loving and supportive very encouraging.

05:07 And I had

05:09 I'm not sure I even had a relationship with my father.

05:13 Like I said, they were they were divorced when I was three or four for the first time. I think they remarried when I was about six and they divorced again when I was about 15.

05:25 And even when they were married, but my father wasn't there very much.

05:30 He was a

05:32 Either working or he was doing his thing, but he did very few things with me.

05:39 And I can remember one of my big projects when I was a kid. I was probably about 10 or 11 years old. I was building my first soap box derby soap box derby car.

05:49 And of course you do a lot of that on your own you go out and sell your advertisements on it and so forth to get money and you you build your own car.

05:57 And I could not get him to help me build it or even come see me race in it. But my my Uncle Jesse my mom's brother pretty much stopped in at took that place for me to hide you doing. Well. Let's say that my car look like a 10 11 year old village.

06:21 And a lot of the cars that were really fast look like they came from GM they can fiberglass but I will say this I lost the first heat.

06:34 Buy only a second maybe less and the guy that I lost to ended up winning the Derby so I had to go sometime.

06:46 So now you have one brother Steven and two sister two sisters Patton and Paula Wright. Tell me about your relationship with them.

06:56 Well, I was quite old when when both my sisters were born. My sister Pat was born when I was 10.

07:03 And Paula was born when I was just a little over 11.

07:07 And I really

07:10 Was more of a surrogate father to them then I was a big brother cuz I'm sure I was both rolls, but

07:19 My mother had to work at that time and I was often.

07:24 The babysitter the caretaker for my two sisters.

07:28 And that became to be somewhat of a problem sometimes because until mom was able to get on the evening or night shift. I had I missed a lot of school.

07:39 And even had the teachers coming out to the house and saying, you know, if you miss X many more days, we're going to not be able to graduate you to the next class.

07:50 And so my mom worked very frantically to get back home and evening shift or night shift, but still you're not come home from school. I couldn't go play with my friends.

08:00 But it didn't hurt my relationship with my sisters. I love them both dearly my sister Paul as you know, I died many years ago, and she was still quite young 35.

08:13 My older sister is a chiropractor and she still doing well and we stay in touch a lot and they are both very important in my life and I will always have been

08:26 My brother Steve

08:29 I was born when I was about.

08:32 15

08:35 I wish my mother second husband.

08:39 And I had very little to do with him as he grew up because I left home when I was 17.

08:48 So it was only two.

08:50 And over the years we have been in touch with each other more and more and right now we are extremely close as adults.

09:00 Are you mentioned that he was?

09:03 From your second of your your mom's second husband. Who is that?

09:08 Ed Kelly and do you remember him at all? Yeah, well being a 15-16 year old and having somebody another adult male move in.

09:24 When you've been primarily though the mail.

09:28 Charge of the household it's certainly was stressful for me. And he was not the kind of person that I really didn't want my mom to be married to so he didn't like me at all. So we had a really shaky relationship and I'm sure he was really happy when I moved out.

09:51 At 18

09:55 Well, he was he he was intelligent man.

10:01 But he is ambition was just to deliver newspapers and he was quite eccentric just be polite on the on the verge of insanity.

10:15 Now he would wrap the papers and other papers and put them in mailboxes. So they wouldn't get wet it take us to our route and turn it into five or six hours. He never worried about collecting the money.

10:26 He rarely bathe he drank a lot. He was an alcoholic.

10:32 And he was just to me was an embarrassment to be around.

10:39 By the way, my brother Steve.

10:43 I'd less of a relationship with him than I did.

10:46 Is he still alive? No?

10:50 You mentioned earlier though, your grandparents the Ralph's house. I one of my questions I wanted to ask you is about your earliest memories of your first house in such a thing, but it seems like now conversation before this you do have fond memories of that house. And you said it's where you your imagination could go while drying. Can you tell me more about why why was that what was supposed to hit was that it was an older home. It was two stories. And you know, I can I can visualize walk into every room in that house even now last time I was in that house. I was probably 14

11:32 The first time it went that house was probably a couple years old.

11:35 I bet it was a nice two story house with beautiful staircase that I love to slide up and our slide down is kind of Hearts light up.

11:45 But it has so many places to hide and to play and in particular. It had a an old coal section that was kind of a dick a Dugout area beneath the house where they had the coffee come in. I fed furnace originally, but you had to actually use a shovel.

12:04 And they finally converted that over and that became sort of my cave.

12:09 And I was easy to make them mine because it only had a 3/4 door on it. So that was just perfect for me.

12:16 And I would make toys out of different things people throw away and I would

12:22 Be a caveman. I be Batman. I'll be whatever.

12:26 And they had a large.

12:30 External building which is quite old filled with all kinds of goodies and it had an opening the top or the roof have been cut away. It was a tin roof and I had to put a just a cover over it plywood or something.

12:45 And I would put the ladder up in there and I would that would be my spaceship. That would be my aircraft carrier. That would be my tank and I was alone a lot even with my grandparents as a child. Everybody else was generally.

13:02 10 years older than me my aunts and uncles that live there. So I was I was I had to use my imagination. I didn't have a lot of toys so I had to make things out of stuff people didn't want but that was okay with me. I made some cool stuff.

13:20 Well, he wants most favorite things that I love to get out of the trash. Can we pull them down and have a spring-loaded take it back up?

13:34 I take the shade part that makes Flags out of it or capes.

13:37 I take the spring part and that would be a long rifle.

13:43 I take the handle out of the bottom and I would cut off a section right before 5 in.

13:49 And I would take that on the rest of it as a guard for my sword.

13:55 Is that what the for PlayStation and I get cardboard boxes and I would make Shields and all kinds of stuff out of it.

14:06 Get myself busy. Do you remember anything about your what do you remember best about your grandparents?

14:15 So my grandfather he's talking about my mother side, right?

14:20 My grandfather house was a Pentecostal preacher, and he was extremely strict.

14:28 But I do remember spending the summer with him he was

14:33 An evangelist who went on the road for the 10th.

14:39 And I went on the road with him one one sunburn and got to experience a road trip with Grandpa. And that was that was quite a trip. My grandmother attended believe that I was her favorite.

14:55 Of all her grandchildren

14:58 And she spoiled me rotten just

15:03 I like the goodies. She fed me and stuff. She liked me. She was I was the only one that she was at take all of the all of the mementos out of her cabinet and play with them and that was another source of the imagination, sweetheart. Did she have a nickname for you?

15:24 No, maybe you were telling me thank somebody you had a nickname as a boy I had to.

15:33 When was taters which my uncle?

15:39 Eugene gave me

15:41 And I think that was probably because I like the potatoes and he mixed up with Teddy. So but my one that's stuck with me for the longest was smiley.

15:52 And

15:54 I carry that form into my adulthood as matter fact 10-15 years ago. Well more than that house got a backup 130 years ago. Your mom bought me a bowling ball when I was a league player and it has a smiley face on it. So she was actually calling me smiley for a number of years as well.

16:15 And I think that reflects how I try to get through life.

16:22 Put on a happy face. So where you a happy kid. I think so most of the time they were terrifying moments is any child has

16:32 Or you're most proud accomplishment as a as a kid, and I don't know.

16:39 What what are you proud of as a kid? I was always proud that I made good grades in school.

16:49 I was a good kid in school.

16:54 I

16:57 Was proud that I was able to steal a kiss from the school bullies girlfriend.

17:03 And in the cloakroom in the 7th grade and I got into a fight later, but I still got the girl we danced around for about 10 minutes had a pile of kids around us yell and hit omit omit omit. Neither one of us took one swing. So after about 10 minutes of dancing around this is enough. We shook hands after that point. He was not my belief, but

17:36 That's when I lived in the country before I went that was who I was in Middle School and I move there just at the beginning of middle school. And this was way out in the country. Most of kids worth lived on farms.

17:47 And I was called a city slicker. That was my dick name. Cuz when I first got there and course a lot of the kids didn't like me because I wasn't from the city.

17:59 Sana and I did well in school that was a little own it looked at is being a any sort of Merit Badge. How did you get to and from school when in all the different locations you live?

18:13 Well, it were some locations. I took School Bus.

18:18 My mom or dad never took me.

18:22 So is he the right took a school bus for a walk when I was in Middle School. Our house was only three or four blocks from the school.

18:31 When I was in high school our house was maybe a mile from school.

18:37 And I walked until I was able to buy me a car at sixteen.

18:42 In which case I I started driving but I have the gas money kind of car was it?

18:50 I had three different cars and over. Of 2 years has me one was a 1953 Chevy.

18:59 And I finally had to get rid of it when the transmission went out in the only gear it had was reverse.

19:05 And I can remember several mornings of driving the school in reverse.

19:10 Your mom said upside down bathtubs huge car.

19:27 It was a fun car.

19:29 Bedford Flames all over it runs great big hood ornament on it. And what was the third car then something Plymouth?

19:40 The way I thought about the question as far as a proud accomplishment. I actually kind of thought you might talk about the science fair cuz I remember seeing a plaque and newspaper clipping.

19:53 Well, that was a high school.

19:56 And that was senior year.

19:59 I won.

20:01 City Science Fair

20:04 And I was I

20:07 One of the semi-finalists in the National

20:10 Boccalone Science Fair

20:14 I got a little little black humor with your project together $25 Bond.

20:23 Accident build anything I had a came up with a theory.

20:28 About how to eliminate mosquitoes and they are using that now so

20:35 I came up with a high-frequency technique that would actually destroy.

20:40 The communications between the mosquito between laying eggs and being able to multiply

20:48 So it would actually destroy that part of the communication cycle and they would just naturally die off.

20:56 Hi sound systems now that the use for mosquito control or Bass limit on that.

21:05 Should have ended it. So let's let's Advance a little bit not too many years them.

21:14 Do you remember the day that you met my mom Sue will we have?

21:22 Yeah, it was in the summer between school years. I was going to be a junior and she was going to be a sophomore.

21:32 That would have been.

21:35 1950

21:38 9

21:40 I met her at the city pool.

21:44 No back, then they're actually City Pool. Would she go pay a quarter and you go swim all day.

21:49 And I was there with my best friend Raymond Pollard.

21:53 I was a year ahead of me and we all went to the same High School.

21:57 And

21:59 For some reason your mom Sue and her best friend Sarah they started kidding around with Raymond, and I'm knocking him in the Water Horse around with him continuing from school.

22:11 And he got me over there involved in it and we started.

22:14 Just playing in the pool and then I guess separately or collect collectively or somehow. We all decided that we were going to go to the drive-in theater that night.

22:26 So I hooked up with your mom Manor Raymond hooked up with Sarah.

22:31 And that was our first date and we probably dated at least twice a week ever since.

22:41 So you got a car then so I guess you would go pick her up for yesterday's. Yeah, she only lives about a half-mile away.

22:49 There was a hill just to the right of my house that went up that was unfinished. I had a dirt path you go up that hill and at the top of the hill you can see her house and matter fact. I used to go there and play basketball with her brothers, but I never met her.

23:08 And then of course when I started dating her brother started telling these stories about how I would show up she would run in the house and get her hair brushed and get her makeup phone and come out and I'll be gone so it took the event that took the time with the to get us together. She had more than a couple of brothers. So who would who would you be playing basketball with Glenn? Keil?

23:31 And some friends from the neighborhood.

23:34 The other kids were we're too small and the other lived on the other side. They were too old and gone. So

23:41 So did you guys have a song?

23:45 Are we really going to have a special song other than we had a couple we really like when we were first dating. We didn't really have one from a marriage or anything, but it was like

23:57 Wooden heart

24:01 And

24:03 Look, my heart is an open book.

24:06 I think

24:08 Wooden heart was a Elvis Presley song.

24:12 And the other one I think was a Carl Collins song Popular in 5960 and Below, by the way, I should have mentioned that you know, your mom was 15 when I met when I first met her and said I was 16.

24:29 So you guys dated really not that long little were year decided to get married now for the rear closing? I don't think there was one.

24:40 I think we just talked about it and said.

24:44 We want to be together.

24:46 And I was young love.

24:49 They were in love. We wanted to be together all the time.

24:54 And so we are playing the story concocted a story about.

24:59 How she was pregnant and we had to get married cuz we had to have our parents sign for us.

25:05 And course they all believe this and they sign for us and we got married.

25:14 And this time you guys are how old she's 16. I'm 17.

25:20 I'm getting ready to go in my senior year. She's getting ready to go into her junior year in high school.

25:26 How much did she go into her junior year of yes eyes. She didn't go.

25:30 Maybe a month and a half.

25:33 Before we had to make a financial decision and she was really in favor of me staying in school and going to college which seemed like a pipe dream.

25:43 But I'm still our dream so

25:48 Now as far as

25:51 I didn't even use that you mention to financialization your 16 and 17. You're in school. I don't know if either do either of you have jobs, how and where did you live? Tell me if I buy a jobs ever since I was 12, so

26:07 Course with a car I was able to run on what they call a country paper out which had like three hundred customers and you drive your car and toss out the papers. So I had a nice little of income from that it was enough to pay for my car by my gas. I also was responsible for providing lunch money for my my sisters.

26:32 So I did that and I also did part-time jobs on the weekends like construction gas station attendant dishwasher.

26:42 Man, we did that for a while. And of course I continue with all that.

26:47 And then some of the other the teachers at school kept after me to to drop out and to take care of my family.

26:54 And I said, no, I wouldn't like I plan on going to college. I need to get a high school education.

27:00 And your mom decided basically. No, she was a very stubborn person.

27:08 Very convincing determined determined like you.

27:12 But the

27:14 She decided be best if she dropped out cuz she didn't intend to go to college and she intended to stay home and take care of family when we ever had any.

27:27 So she dropped out and got a job as a working in a

27:33 Laundromat

27:36 And where we are living of time though, the first moved in with her parents.

27:42 He had actually have her father.

27:46 I've actually

27:48 Put together a little apartment in their house for us, which was thinking back is just unbelievably generous and kind of him.

27:58 Vegeta

28:00 We weren't able to stay there more than a month or so because we had absolutely no privacy.

28:06 Johanna little brothers at home

28:08 And we just didn't have any time to to be together so you can always go off and close the door to the apartment. We did that. Somebody was always knocking on the door saying why aren't you out here with us? What the one out enjoying the family?

28:23 So we try that and then we moved in with my mom and I lived in my old room and then we got a trailer and Mom put it in the backyard and we lived in that.

28:34 Until after graduation from high school

28:38 And then I went to Jersey your mom and I did to Uncle Jesse's and worked up there different jobs.

28:46 And in August

28:48 I join the airforce.

28:51 And I course you know that I was 20 years of employment there.

28:59 And when you said the trailer, does that like an Airstream time stopped and then I was like I was an old one bedroom.

29:11 It'll stand up shower.

29:14 Small kitchen living area

29:18 That wheels on it, but it was more of like a was a like a single wide permanent structure or was it more of you? Pull it in their Park trailer hook up with that time 8 foot wide maybe 35-40 footlong wasn't a big one.

29:37 So tell me about the way so that after.

29:40 When the Air Force I'm sorry. Tell me about the wedding.

29:46 The wedding was held at the pastor's house.

29:51 In a sentence

29:53 Was

29:55 Your mom's father and stepmom Margie.

30:00 And her sister Janet

30:03 And for my side with my mom.

30:07 I was a brief ceremony her father took lots of pictures of the password is wife.

30:14 And off we went

30:16 And he gave us his car keys because my car was acting up a little bit. So we had to get all the tools out of the front seat.

30:24 And we went off to have our first dinner together, which was it a really at that time one of the nicer restaurants in Knoxville, which was called Regal restaurant.

30:35 That we went there.

30:39 That was a very first time either one of us had eaten out at a restaurant.

30:47 And

30:51 I had that Hawaiian ham baked potato salad T. She had chicken baked potato salad t

31:02 We ain't maybe for five bites and left and drove up to Norris Dam.

31:09 Which is not too far outside of Knoxville.

31:12 And they're hit there's a there was an old hotel motel there that looked over onto the lake and I went up there didn't have a reservation just drove up there.

31:24 And walked in and signed and here we are 17 and 16 what I had on my white sport coat in my boat. I see you don't have a little prom dress and guy didn't say, you know, aren't you guys kind of young to be running around out here, which I thought we'd get some kind of a black about but nothing happened. So that was the first night we ever spent in an air-conditioned room lights up first.

31:57 I guess the fact that we were actually married.

32:00 And

32:03 I don't know we were so excited to get to the motel. Is that what you want me to say air condition for not did her so so think about your whole life.

32:27 Who was the biggest influence on your life?

32:31 That depends on the face of life.

32:34 31 time a child was a child.

32:37 My mom was a good influence. She taught me forgiveness.

32:42 Honesty kindness love

32:46 My father was a negative influence. He showed me how not to do things.

32:51 I'm about to be a father.

32:54 And later in life. They were teachers who know I had a fantastic physics and chemistry teacher in high school. Mr. Bennett.

33:02 And I had an unbelievable math teacher and this is really her name Miss million.

33:09 And she got me involved in all sorts of math team stuff and the two teachers really gave me confidence that I could actually succeed in a Math Science World, which I wanted to.

33:23 And of course your mom

33:26 Greatest influence

33:30 I want to be remembered.

33:38 Sorry.

33:47 Excuse me. I guess you could all that out right now.

33:54 I want to be remembered as a

33:57 A good teacher

34:00 A good friend

34:02 I want to be remembered as honest a man of integrity.

34:08 I want to be remembered as a good father.

34:16 Why do they say Sarah the greatest influence?

34:21 Well, even though I did want to go to college. I don't think I've ever made it and if she hadn't pushed me for a number of years and I didn't go right off to college because of the scholarship. I had one was pulled out when they found out. I was married. That's where lots of things in high school.

34:38 Tell like they were trying to get rid of you still help you but

34:43 I think the thinking along those lines has changed greatly but got to realize this is 50 years ago.

34:50 But time

34:53 She was off the force. She was cutest thing in the world.

34:59 Had a way of making me do what I'm supposed to do.

35:05 Took gun

35:08 The number of years of night school when I was in the Air Force to get to the point where I could apply for what was a full time college program in the Air Force at that time and then based on that I was able to go to undergraduate school and graduate school before I left the service.

35:27 I remember helping you with your thesis. She typed it for me.

35:33 I guess you also taught me how to get to a tragedy.

35:37 Life Goes On

35:48 Sorry.

35:53 How it's actually been a number of years 21 years to.

36:03 She I was diagnosed with cancer when she was 44.

36:09 And she died very quickly took about 10 months.

36:14 Which was about 6 months longer than I gave her.

36:19 She wanted to live that's for sure.

36:24 Oh, yeah, it was it was it was 1989 and in fact

36:33 One of the things as far as after she was diagnosed. I've been 9 I've been dating my wife on my now wife at the time forum.

36:46 Here we are. Here. We were we felt like we were destined to get married. So once we found out that she been diagnosed we actually

37:00 You move the marriage up for her sake because they aren't the doctor told you. She wouldn't be around. They want to get married after David already graduated from high from college and Kristen was in graduate until June and they ended up getting married in December.

37:15 But she was still in school because the doctor told her that she would not be there in January in June.

37:23 Come in for a good wedding in the back of the mom was there but the same time I rather, you know dampen the spirit of the occasion. She can see where I get my crying from.

37:41 Well

37:43 That I wanted to say. Thank you very much. You have done a very good father.

37:52 I appreciate appreciate you doing this with me some thank you. Thank you, honey. You've been a great son.

38:01 You didn't talk about the things you want to talk about you and Teddy.

38:05 We will have to talk about those later.

38:08 But you're both right kids and you still are. Thanks.

38:12 I love you. I love you, too.