Helen Spratt Murchison Lane

Helen Spratt Murchison Lane died on May 18, 2025,  just 14 days shy of her 101st birthday. She was born on June 1, 1924, in Boston, Massachusetts. The first daughter of Helen Spratt and Charles Holton Murchison, she moved to Jacksonville when she was two months old and lived there for the rest of her life. A graduate of Bartram School and Sweet Briar College, she married Edward Wood Lane, Jr., with whom she had four children.

Helen loved Jacksonville and, together with her husband, Ed, actively supported the Jacksonville community throughout her life.  She was a lifetime member of the Garden Club of Jacksonville and a founding member of the Acacia Garden Circle, where she was president three times and the perennial trip chairman.  With Ann Baker and Jackie Holmes, she was a founding member of the Arts Assembly, now the Cultural Council of Jacksonville.  She was a member of the Jacksonville Junior League, serving as president in 1959.  She was a founding member of the Women’s Giving Alliance and a member of the Colonial Dames.  Helen served on the boards of trustees of the Jacksonville Symphony, the River City Band, the Community Foundation, Sweet Briar College, Bartram School, the Bolles School, the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce, the Cummer Gallery of Art and Gardens and the Jacksonville Historical Society.

Her community and civic service was often publicly recognized.  She was named Outstanding Alumnus of both the Bolles School and Sweet Briar College.  She received the Tillie Fowler Award from the Jacksonville Junior League, and the Arnolta Johnson “Mama” Williams Lifetime Award at the Florida Times-Union Eve Awards ceremony.  With her husband, Ed, she was honored with the Outstanding Philanthropist Award from the local chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals.  She was granted the Bishop’s Cross Award from St. John’s Cathedral.  Helen was named Woman of Distinction by the Jacksonville Historical Society, and received the Florida National Trust Award for Historic Preservation for her work restoring Victorian homes in Riverside, known as the Princess Royal, Fancy Dancy, Queen Victoria, and Heir Apparent.  Helen’s civic engagements included serving on the Jacksonville Historical Commission, appointed by Mayor Hans Tanzler, and on the Jacksonville Historic Landmark Commission, appointed by Mayor Jake Godbold.

While raising four children and staying engaged in the civic and cultural life of Jacksonville, Helen nonetheless found time to edit and publish the Best of Lucifer, Queen Victoria Cooks (with Dolly Day), Jacksonville Historic Calendar 1976, and Jacksonville Memory Calendar 1978 (both with Susan Caven).  She and Dolly Day owned and operated a 30+ rental house business for the better part of three decades.  An adventurer as well, Helen traveled with Ed to more than 25 countries;  drove Palmer, Carita, and Anna, with three horses in tow, around the Florida equine circuit; attended a Buddhist retreat center with Anna; and even climbed the Matterhorn with Ed in Zermatt, Switzerland.

Lengthy as it is, no list of activities, accomplishments and awards is adequate to describe Helen’s remarkable personality. Happy by nature, she had a wonderful sense of humor and loved all social engagements, from one-on-one conversations to large parties, especially when dancing was involved.  Helen loved people and was able to find something interesting and positive in everyone she met, regardless of the circumstances.  With these social gifts in combination with her manifest beauty and charm, Helen lit up the room wherever she went.  A dispeller of boredom and a never ending fountain of ideas, she was enthusiastic, curious, creative, incredibly generous, and fully engaged with life. Helen was an adoring wife and mother and was deeply loved by her family and close friends. She will be greatly missed by her children and grandchildren. Heaven, however, is probably throwing a huge party right now.

Helen is survived by son Edward W. Lane, III (Barney) of Atlantic Beach, Florida;  daughter Palmer L. Dorn (Joe) of Washington D.C.; daughter Anna T. Lane of Charlottesville, Virgina; son Charles M. Lane of Crescent City, Florida; thirteen grandchildren and 9 great-grandchildren.

A celebration of Helen’s life will be held at St. John’s Cathedral in Jacksonville, Florida, at 3pm on Saturday, May 31, 2025, with a reception to follow in Taliaferro Hall. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to Sweet Briar College, the Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens, or St. John’s Cathedral