Rudy 2006-07

Angels in Our Midst Seniors Choice Newsmagazine July 2006 - By Rudy Loeser - "It's better to light a candle than curse the darkness," said Cyril Lane of Vernon when I visited him and his wife Leona in their Spanish-style home high on a hillside in Vernon. It soon became obvious that the Lanes live by this tenet, which has had a large effect on hundreds, even thousands of disadvantaged people of all faiths in Third World countries in which Leona and Cyril served as volunteers and became beacons of hope. Their names are honoured in many parts of the world. In 1988, they set out for Tanzania, where they worked for an Italian mission group called "The Society of Precious Blood". Preparatory to their assignment, they studied the Italian language and culture for three months in the central Italian city of Perugia, as well as training for four months in the Swahili idiom and culture. Their assignment was the revitalization of a workshop and trades training centre in the midst of that African country. In addition to training and supervising their Tanzanian staff, they were responsible for the maintenance of all the mission vehicles, overseeing the training centre and conducting carpentry and mechanical workshops. Since their workshops were the only ones for many miles around, all kinds of commercial work also landed in their laps. In 1992, after close to 4 years of the mission, Cyril and Leona Lane came home, connected with their nine children (all of whom were successful adults in various professions). Then, as regional representatives for the Save a Family Plan for which they both are regional reps, they set out for India in 1992. Their contribution there, they explained, was not so much related to technical aspects of their work, since, as they stated, India has its own vast pool of intelligent and competent professionals, but fundraising-related. They returned to India again in 1998 on the same mission. In the year 2000, an American friend who is a doctor and priest, as well as founder and director of a Mission Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya, invited the Lanes to spend 3 months in that city to set up a preventive maintenance program for the hospital buildings. In 2004, they found themselves on the war-torn East coast of Sri Lanka. They undertook this project on behalf of CESO (Canadian Executive Services Organization). The assignment consisted primarily of updating of automotive engineering programs at two colleges and to conduct a study, and make recommendations on, revitalizing courses related to the mechanical trades. Well may you ask and how those two people, Leona the retired teacher and professional singer who was born in rural Saskatchewan, and Cyril, who immigrated from England, then wound up teaching automotive mechanics at Yukon College and supervising huge maintenance projects in his position of Superintendent of Highways in what was then the Yukon Territory, came to be involved in so much volunteer mission work. Especially since nobody pays them to do it. (They are sent to the far-flung corners of the world by charitable organizations and, once there, accommodation and food is taken care of by the local group or chapter). That may explain the how of it but that not the why, - after raising their children and looking forward to retirement, they responded to the calls for help from he charities. First, there came the Save a Family Plan, which the Lanes had joined at its inception in 1965, and which they supported financially while raising their children. Then the Canadian Executive Service Organization, founded in 1967, which committed its services to underprivileged countries. It just went from there. The wellspring for their dedication lies, unquestionably in the firmly rooted sense of Christian values - both subscribe to the Roman Catholic faith, and in the satisfaction of being able to help those who need help most. As Cyril said at one point during the hours I spent with those two marvelous human beings: It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness. That about sums it up.

 

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