Obit – Esq. Joe P. Lane Jr.

A retired Carthage Attorney, former Smith County General Sessions Judge and Vietnam War Veteran, Esq. Joe P. Lane Jr. of South Carthage, was pronounced deceased at 4:08 p.m. Wednesday afternoon May 10, 2023 at the Vanderbilt Wilson County Hospital in Lebanon where he was admitted Monday afternoon April 24th being treated for Covid pneumonia. 

Mr. Lane’s pastor, Rev. Monica Mowdy, officiated at the 11 a.m. Saturday morning May 13th funeral services from the Carthage Chapel of Sanderson Funeral Home.

American Legion Post # 57 of Carthage conducted Chapel Military Honors.

Graveside services and interment were conducted Saturday afternoon May 13th at 1:30 p.m. at the Evergreen Cemetery on Greenland Drive in Murfreesboro with Rev. Mowdy officiating.

Mr. Lane was one of two sons and was born Joe Patton Lane Jr. in Murfreesboro on March 22, 1943 and was the son of the late Joe Patton Lane Sr. who died October 23, 2000 at the age of 86 and Mary Katherine “Tipper” Batey Lane who died June 13, 2012 at the age of 92.

Mr. Lane was a 1961 graduate of Murfreesboro Central High School, graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in pre-law from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas in 1965 and graduated with a Doctorate of Jurisprudence Degree from the University Of Tennessee School of Law in Knoxville in 1968. 

He was inducted into the United States Army in Murfreesboro on April 25, 1968 and was honorably discharged on November 30, 1969 with the rank of Specialist Fifth Class with one year, seven months and six days of service. The discharge was effected at the U. S. Army Personal Center in Oakland, California.

His Vietnam overseas service was for one year, one month and nineteen days.

For his unselfish service to our country he was awarded the National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, Vietnam Campaign Medal, the Army Commendation Medal and the Good Conduct Medal.

The Vietnam War was officially declared ended by the United States Government in June of 1974 and Mr. Lane’s Army Reserve duty assignment was declared completed on April 24, 1974.

In Murfreesboro, at the North Boulevard Church of Christ on December 12, 1970, he was united in marriage to Murfreesboro native, the former Benita Black McFarlin.

Mr. and Mrs. Lane relocated from Murfreesboro to Carthage in December 1970 following their wedding and Mr. Lane became a law partner with longtime former Smith County Judge and attorney, the late Clint Beasley. 

After the death of Judge Beasley in 1979, Mr. Lane continued the law practice until being diagnosed with Myasthenia Gravis in early 2000 and he then retired.

Mr. Lane was a member of the Tennessee Bar Association, was a former member of the Carthage Rotary Club and later the South Carthage Civitan Club.

Under the administration of former Governor Ned Ray McWherter, the Governor appointed Mr. Lane to serve as the assistant commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Securities and Commerce.

The Lane family were members of the Carthage United Methodist Church.

Surviving in addition to his wife Benita of almost fifty-three years are their three sons, Joe Patton Lane III of Carthage, twin sons, Alan Lane and wife Angela Jenkins Lane of the Rome Community, Brian Lane and wife Jennifer of Murfreesboro; brother, John B. Lane of Murfreesboro; four grandchildren, Allison Lane Smith and husband J. R. of the Double Springs Community in Putnam County, Thomas Alan Lane of Cookeville, William Lane and Madeline Lane both of Murfreesboro.

The Lane family has requested memorials be made in his remembrance to the Carthage United Methodist Church Building Fund.

SANDERSON of CARTHAGE