Eunice “Dolly” Cecelia Lane was born to Thomas Green Jr. and Mary Osage Green in Fairfax, Okla., on Nov. 14,1929. She is now 85 years old and has lived the majority of her life in Fairfax. She is the granddaughter of Amos Osage and Eliza Osage Bigheart. She has two living sisters, Dolores Goodeagle and Beverly Brownfield and three deceased siblings: Thomasine Moore and two infant siblings.
Lane attended school at the Sacred Heart Catholic School in Fairfax till the sixth grade and then attended Fairfax Junior High. She went to Haskell Institute in Lawrence, Kans., for high school as a sophomore and graduated in 1948. The Haskell Institute later became Haskell Indian Nations University. She took a nutrition course at Northern Oklahoma College in Tonkawa, Okla. She worked for the North Central Intertribal Health Council as a CHR Osage representative. She retired from there after 12 years.
She has two living daughters, Jon Jon Lane and Mary Olson, who played collegiate basketball for the University of Oklahoma, a son Thomas Lane who is deceased; five grandchildren, including Jae Olson who is a collegiate gymnast at Northern Illinois University and Danita Goodwill, who is one of the best buckskin dancers in Indian Country. She has 14 great-grandchildren, one great-great-granddaughter. She has four adopted sons. She is of the Osage and Sac & Fox Nations.
Osage News: What are some of the most important lessons you have learned in your life?
Dolly Lane: Whatever my mother told me, a lot of things I wish I had paid more attention to now so I would know more. She told me to take care of our song at Grayhorse and to take care of the camp and to feed people.
ON: You have participated in dance competitions, what they call “powwows” all over the country, what was that like?
DL: I like it. I get to see old friends and make new friends and see people that are close to me. I like Morongo, California and Albuquerque “Gathering of Nations.” The farthest I have went is to Connecticut “Schemitzun” but they don’t have that one anymore I wish they would have it one more time.
ON: What is your favorite memory?
DL: I like to see our family go in at Grayhorse and to hear their names get called and to stand with them and watch them be seated. My son, Thomas was a Whipman when he passed away, he was also a water boy.
ON: What are you the most proud of?
DL: My kids, my grandkids and great-grandkids. I try to go to most of their sporting events and anything they have going on with their academics. When my grandson played football I parked right behind the goal and watched the game.
ON: What do you remember about the Grayhorse District when you were a young girl?
DL: It has changed a lot. We had a small camp but now we have a big camp. I remember when the committees had only eight committeemen on it and now they have 49, plus singers and cooks. It’s really changed a lot. They used to have just two Whip Men and eight committeemen and there was not very many of us, and plenty of room. Now it is just packed and no room. The men used to sit back and let the women dress them. The men didn’t have to dress themselves.
ON: Who or what did you love the most?
DL: My mother and my kids, I have always loved being a mother and seeing about my kids. We had Christmas at the big house in Fairfax with bicycles all over the place. The kids would leave, they would take them riding around to go look at the lights, and when the curtain in the big window opened up it would let them know Santa had came and it was time to come in and open presents. We use to have a packed house back then.
ON: What do you miss from your youth?
DL: The Roller Inn was a café in town and I would take my mom there at 10 a.m. and I would go check on her at noon and ask if she was ready and she would say, “No I am listening to all the gossip.” We ate there all the time.
ON: How would you like to be remembered?
DL: I would like my kids to think about all the things I have done for them. I want them to take care of the camp and take care of the song at Grayhorse.
ON: What advice would you like to give to Osage youth?
DL: Do everything right and learn the language. Kids really need to learn to talk it. I am proud to be Osage and I am proud of my tribe.
By
Tara Madden
Original Publish Date: 2015-10-29 00:00:00
