Joan Fletcher Lane : Interview for the John W. Gardner Legacy Oral History Project

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Abstract/Contents

Abstract: Joan Lane offers her impressions of John Gardner and comments on Gardner’s friendship with her late husband, Melvin B. Lane. According to Lane, Gardner and Mel Lane were both members of the Bohemian Club and spent time together at the Sempervirens camp at the Bohemian Grove every summer. When Gardner decided to retire from the Bohemian Club, Mel Lane set up the “lunch bunch” so that Gardner and a small group of friends could meet for lunch once a month and not lose contact. Reflecting on Gardner’s impact on her husband, Lane remarks that Gardner set high standards and encouraged him to go beyond the bounds of his work at Lane Publishing and become engaged with community affairs. Lane credits Gardner, as a Stanford trustee, with a deep understanding of the anger and alienation students were feeling in the 1960s, and in response instigating the move of trustee meetings to the campus from more remote San Francisco, and devising the system by which alumni trustees were brought onto the board to increase youth and diversity. She also expresses admiration for Gardner’s wife, Aida, and his daughter Francesca (Checka), and speaks briefly about her own service as a member of the board of the John Gardner Center for Youth and Their Families. A great personal admirer of John Gardner and his writings, Lane closes by suggesting she may go back and read his books again.

Type of resource	sound recording-nonmusical, text, still image
Extent	1 audio file; 1 text file; 1 photograph
Place	Stanford (Calif.)
Publisher	Stanford Historical Society
Date created	July 10, 2017
Language	English
Digital origin	born digital

Interviewee	Lane, Joan Fletcher
Creator	Lane, Joan Fletcher
Interviewer	Schofield, Susan W.
Publisher	Stanford Historical Society

Biographical profile	Joan Fletcher Lane has been a Stanford staff member, volunteer, consultant, and donor for over forty years. Lane grew up in Berkeley, California, then left the west coast in 1945 to attend Smith College, graduating in 1949 with a degree in international economics. Lane returned to the Bay Area after graduating and married Melvin B. Lane in 1953. Since returning to the Bay Area, Lane has been involved with Stanford in numerous ways. She helped develop the Community Committee for International Students and worked in the School of Humanities and Sciences for over ten years. She has with Stanford’s Board of Trustees and served on the Board of Trustees at Smith College.
Transcript	Title Transcript
Finding Aid	Title John W. Gardner Legacy Oral History Project (SC1355)
Location	https://purl.stanford.edu/bv389mf4040
Location	SC1355
Repository	Stanford University. Libraries. Department of Special Collections and University Archives

Use and reproduction: The materials are open for research use and may be used freely for non-commercial purposes with an attribution. For commercial permission requests, please contact the Stanford University Archives (universityarchives@stanford.edu).

John W. Gardner Legacy Oral History Project

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