The funeral service for Jerald Lane, Sr. will be at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, July 12th, at St. Mary of the Lake Catholic Church in Lake City, with Father Joseph P. Pete officiating. Burial will be in the Dale Pleasant Prairie Cemetery in rural Zumbro Falls.

Mr. Lane, 80, of Lake City, died Wednesday morning, July 9, 2014 at the Care Center of the Mayo Health System – Lake City.

Jerald Joseph Lane, Sr. was born July 12, 1933 in Rosalie, Nebraska to Joseph and Gladys Lane. He grew up in Nebraska, and attended a one room school where him and his brother rode a horse or walked to school each day. Jerry worked at the family gas station while attending high school in Rosalie and graduating in 1951 where he was class president. Jerry received a scholarship to play football at Wayne State where he attended for one year. On November 2, 1952 he married Wilma Batenhorst in St. Mary's Catholic Church at West Point, Nebraska.

Jerry and Wilma lived in Columbus, NE after they were married. Jerry then worked for Union Pacific Railroad, one of his main jobs was clearing trees for power lines, and later became a Depot Agent sending telegrams to 100 trains a day. In 1956 he started taking on side jobs of cutting trees.

In 1960 Jerry moved his wife and two kids to a 160 acre farm he bought in Lake Township near Lake City, MN where he raised beef cows. Jerry continued to cut and trim trees on the side, but soon he became well known as the flying tree trimmer, which would bring anyone in the area to a stop and watch as he worked and swung from limb to limb. The Lane Tree Service was born when Jerry bought a stump grinder. He contracted with many area towns to do city tree jobs. Jerry loved cutting and shaping trees to make them look their best. Jerry became a Certified Arborist for the State of Minnesota, and treated many diseased trees like Dutch Elm.

Jerry loved his family, fishing, hunting, playing cards, and his one acre garden. In his last years of life he became known as the morning greeter and loved to play bingo at the care center in Lake City where he moved to in 2003. Yes, he will be missed.

Jerald is survived by two daughters, Susan Getschmann of Lake City, and LouAnn (Todd) Zwart of Zumbrota; two sons, John (Debbie) Lane of Lake City and Jerald (Roxanne) Lane, Jr. of Zumbrota; 22 grandchildren and 20 great-grandchildren; and one brother, Charles Lane of Lyons, NE. He was preceded in death by his parents, his wife in 2006, a granddaughter Jackie, two infant children, and one son, Joe.

Friends and family may visit from 9:30 a.m. until the time of service at St. Mary of the Lake Catholic Church in Lake City on Saturday.