Joseph A. Lane

1952 - 2022

A Memorial Service honoring Seal Beach resident, Joseph A. Lane, former Executive Officer for the Court of Appeal in Los Angeles, will be held this weekend. Joseph died in October after a brief battle with cancer.
Joe served as president of the California Appellate Court Clerks Association and the National Conference of Appellate Court Clerks and was appointed to the Judicial Council of California in 1996.
In addition to his career in one of the busiest appellate courts in the nation, Joe was a great father, impressive body surfer, talented golfer, knowledgeable military historian, and not so good poker player.
Joe was born in Burbank, California in February 1952, to Louise Scheu and Warren Joseph Lane, a successful trial lawyer. Joe followed his brother and sister to St. Charles Borromeo Catholic School in North Hollywood and graduated from Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks in 1970. During high school, he played sports and his Junior and Senior years he served as head cheerleader.
A typical Valley teenager, he learned to surf and boogie board honing his skills during family vacations on Balboa Island and the peninsula at Newport Beach-- with side trips to the Hawaiian Islands.
Joe received his BA with honors from California State University, Northridge in 1975.
Married to Kathy O'Kane in 1979, he was especially proud of their children, Irish twins, Peter and Allison. Both father and friend, he treasured time spent just hanging with them, camping, vacationing on their annual road trips and sharing Simpson and Seinfeld trivia. Champion body surfer in the 90s, surfing was stalled temporarily in 2010 when he broke his back in high surf at Bolsa Chica in Huntington Beach.
Losing his older brother Michael in 1991 was a terrible blow but from that grew a closer bond with nephews, Robert, Matthew, Andrew and sister-in-law Nelda.
In 2000, Joseph moved to his beachfront apartments in Seal Beach, California, "the town that time forgot." Seal Beach would become his happy place. It was also close by to his brother, David and his family. Uncle Joe became the favorite of his youngest nephews, Shaun and Kelly.
Joe spent his last few weeks in the company of his wife, children, brother, sister, and childhood friends, who shared his interest in golf, classic movies, all things John Wayne, Perry Mason reruns and Mexican food. To their amazement, he refused to miss a single poker game.
Joseph is survived by his wife, Kathy, son, Peter, daughter, Allison, sister, Kimball, brother, David and nephews, Robert, Andrew, Shaun and Kelly.