Sublette - Betty Lane passed into eternal life on August 12, 2020, at age 96. She had been a resident of Reflection Living Senior Living Home in Wichita, during the past six years. She was born Betty Lee Parsons in Newton, on April 23, 1924, to Henry and Bessie Parsons.

Her early childhood was spent in Elmdale, Kansas, where she learned to play the piano and the violin. At age 12, Betty Lee began playing the piano for her local church, and she served as pianist/organist for several congregations during the next 60+ years. Betty attended her first two years of high school in Galva, Kansas, where she met and fell in love with A.D. Morgan. In 1940, Betty moved to Newton with her family for the remainder of her high school education, while A.D. joined the U.S. Navy. They married on September 12, 1943, while A.D. was stationed briefly in Kansas. Soon he was off to the South Pacific, and the newlyweds were not to see other again for nearly two years. When A.D. returned to the States, he and Betty began their family: Arthur was born in 1946, followed by Elizabeth Jane in 1948.

A.D. began working for the Santa Fe Railway, and in 1950, the family settled into a Santa Fe house about 16 miles west of Emporia. Betty served for a short time as Postmistress in nearby Saffordville, and later she worked at Hallmark Cards in Emporia. When A.D. was laid off in 1959, he took a new job as depot agent in Sublette. Betty worked at the Sublette Coop.  A decade later, A.D. was diagnosed with an inoperable tumor, and Betty cared diligently for him until his death in August, 1970.

Betty was friends with Junior Lane, a Coop employee who had recently lost his wife. Their common experience drew them together quickly, and they married in December, 1970. Junior and Betty farmed near Sublette for a few years; then moved to Chase County, where Junior farmed and raised cattle, and Betty worked hard to refurbish a neglected 100-year-old stone house, the site of many gatherings of family and friends. Junior died in 1989 of cancer. In 2002, Betty returned to Sublette and lived there until entering the nursing home in Wichita.

Betty was energetic, cheerful, and helpful to all who knew her, whether as friend, neighbor, coworker, or family member. Quiet about her faith, she shared God's love in tangible ways throughout her life.

Betty Lee was preceded in death by her parents, Henry and Bessie (Childs) Parsons; her brother, John Parsons; her first husband, A.D. Morgan, Jr.; and her second husband, Junior Lane. She is survived by her son, Art Morgan, of Wichita; her daughters, Jane (Morgan) Bailey, of Sublette, JoAnn (Lane) Reh, of Inman, and Sue Lane, of Lawrence; and thirteen grandchildren, twenty-five great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild.

Memorial service will be held at Sublette Christian Church on Saturday August 29, 2020 at 1:00 PM. Inurnment will follow at Haskell County Cemetery, Sublette. There is no visitation as cremation has taken place. Memorials are suggested to Sublette Christian Church-Music Fund or Reflection Senior Living of Wichita in care of Swaim Funeral Chapel – PO Box 607 – Sublette, KS 67877. Thoughts and memories may be shared in the online guest book at www.swaimfuneralhome.com.