Dr. Lane was born in 1892 in Iowa in the U.S.A. After studying at William Penn University and Haverford College, he came to Japan in 1921 as a foreign instructor at the Preparatory School of the former Hokkaido Imperial University to teach English.
In 1922, he married Pauline, daughter of Dr. Roland – an American missionary living in Sapporo. Pauline also taught English to the prep school’s students for several years before the outbreak of the Pacific War.
In 1941 when the war started, Dr. Lane and his wife were detained as citizens of an enemy country, and had an extremely hard time before being sent back to America.
In 1951 when the system of employing foreign instructors at national universities was restored, the couple returned to Sapporo, where Dr. Lane taught English at the Faculty of Liberal Arts of Hokkaido University until he suddenly passed away in the summer of 1963.
To commemorate Dr. Lane’s achievements for many years to come, memorial medals are today awarded to sophomore students who demonstrate outstanding performance in English classes as the Lane Prize.