George Albert Lane

1933 - 2018

George Albert Lane
3 September 1933 - 3 August 2018
INMAN--George Albert Lane set course for Elysium, Friday 3rd August. Loving husband of Janella, wanderlust father, revered grandfather and great-grandfather, unfathomable friend, indefatigable bon vivant, George was born in a small fishing town, a world away, a time ago -- Brixham, Devon, England, September 3rd 1933.
George attended naval school and went on to serve in the Royal Navy as a Signal Yeoman. La belle France, the rock of Gibraltar and the islands of the Mediterranean - breezing through, inaudible whispers of a prevailing wind to carry him farther yet.
Yet father first, George and Molly, had four children, Carol, Heather, Hazel and Rick. His children, grandchildren, nephews, nieces and extended family - he brimmed with accomplished pride seeing them tack headfirst, headstrong into the world's currents and cultures. Boasting of their exploits, bemoaning their culinary inadequacies. Australia, up and down the U.K., SE Asia, Africa, across Europe; horizons explored becoming locations shared in reunion.
George arrived in the US in 1982, island-hopping off from Antigua and making a motley crew of lifelong friends. He met Janella in 1983 on his first night ashore mainland US - St. Petersburg, Florida. Love at first sight, they married a year later. George was a yacht Captain and together they worked charters and in yacht brokerage for many happiest years. Their life and love itself a chartership in adventure, enjoyment and boundless capacity simply 'To'. To go. To sail. To read. To recite. To surreptitiously nudge his golf ball out of a bad lie. To poeticise. To romanticise. To sophisticate. To befriend. To cook, eat, drink and be merry. To dance. To persevere. To laugh. To live. To love. Together.
They moved back to Inman, SC in 2006 to be closer to Janella's family, the late Leonard, and Dorothy Koob of Inman, SC, and brothers Gary Koob and the late Tom Koob. The extended family visiting frequently, coming to know and love Inman, Greenville, Spartanburg, the Carolina Panthers and the Atlanta Braves! George may never have told y'all, but there was stoic solace in the South and, with the pages of the Inman library, a Constantine peace for an Olde English sailor and connoisseur of the good life here.
Shanty, sonnet, archipelago, acapella. Wherever you found him, however he regaled you, George's salty wit never without the brine of his smile. He will be dearly missed, remembered lovingly in glints on the sea's horizon and laughter floating on its crisp winds.
I must go down to the seas again, to the
vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull's way and the whale's way, where
the wind's like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing
fellow-rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the
long trick's over.
The family would like to thank those who cared for George over the years and in particular the doctors, nurses and staff of the Gibbs Cancer Center and Spartanburg Regional Hospice. Family and friends will be gathering to celebrate George's life in suitable ebullience and wonderful raucousness on Saturday, Nov. 24.
Family is at the home. In lieu of flowers memorials may be made to Gibbs Cancer Center, c/o Spartanburg Regional Foundation, 101 East Wood Street, Spartanburg, SC 29303 or Spartanburg Regional Hospice, 686 Jeff Davis Drive, Spartanburg, SC 29303 or Spartanburg Humane Society, 150 Dexter Road, Spartanburg, SC 20303.
Ian - you can send all the money you owe him for golf sweep stakes to the grandkids.
Seawright Funeral Home & Crematory
Inman, SC