Ruby Lane

Ruby Lema (Love) Lane was born at home in a small cabin on August 22, 1919 in a small farming community outside of Smithville, Tennessee. Her parents were Grover Cleveland Love and Lula Mae (Trapp) Love. The oldest of five children, she went to school and worked the family farm until her late teens, when she moved to Chattanooga, and then later to Detroit. Her parents and most of her siblings also moved to Detroit. In Detroit, during World War II, Mrs. Lane supported the war effort working in a factory that produced military tanks, installing instruction sheets on periscopes. She also worked in a hosiery mill and was known for her sewing skills and perfectly straight seamed hosiery. While in Detroit, Mrs. Lane was introduced to her future husband by her brother, Charles. Bernard Joseph Chorazewicz and Ruby Love were married May 20, 1944. Although proud of his Polish heritage, Ben changed the family name to “Lane” mostly because it was easier to say and spell. If you have been around Ruby for more than a few moments, even in the emergency room, you know that they had two children. Thomas Joseph was his Daddy’s Christmas present, born Christmas Eve in 1950, and Shirley Ann was her Daddy’s birthday present, born on Ben’s birthday in March of 1956. Ben and Ruby moved to the West Palm Beach area in the mid 1950s. Ben was a skilled master glazier in the mirror and window industry, and Ruby was a homemaker. She continued her sewing skills in slip covers, upholstery, and drapery design for private clients. She would bring her Singer sewing machine and thread box to Palm Beach and sew while her children were in school. Some of you may be familiar with Grace Fellowship Church, a megachurch in West Palm Beach. The very first meetings of that original congregation, then known as Bible Baptist Church, were held in the living room of the Lanes in the late 1950s. Ruby cared for Ben for seven years after a devastating stroke, before he passed in 1987. She remained in West Palm Beach for many years in the iconic Century Village, before moving to Texas to live with her son, Tom. Later, she relocated to the western Fort Lauderdale area to live with her daughter, Shirley. Ruby is preceded in death by her parents, Grover Cleveland and Lula Mae, husband Ben, baby sister Joyce Marie Montanebeu, and younger brother Grover Cleveland Jr. She is survived by two children, Tom (Becky) Lane, and Shirley (Charles) Hein. She is also survived by brother Charles Love and sister Doris (Love) Prater in the Detroit area. At age 95, she outlived most of her contemporaries, but is beloved by younger generations who have come to love her quirky and outspoken nature. “You wait until you’re MY age…. THEN…. You’ll understand!” Visitation will be Thursday 4:00-7:00 PM at the T.M. Ralph Funeral Home 371 NW 136 Avenue Sunrise, FL 33325. Graveside services will be Friday 10:30 AM at Lake Worth Memory Gardens.