Polly Lane, pioneering Times reporter, dies at age 70

As the story goes, Boeing executives got so accustomed to 5 a.m. calls at home from reporter Polly Lane chasing down a lead, they'd automatically pick up the phone with "Hello, Polly."

"I don't think the clock meant anything to Polly," said Harold Carr, retired Boeing spokesman. "If she saw something early in the morning or something was on her mind, she'd call."

Mrs. Lane, who retired in 2000 after a 34-year reporting career at The Seattle Times, most of it covering commercial real estate and the aerospace industry, died Tuesday at 70 in an Anacortes hospital after fighting cancer for nearly three decades.

She was one of Seattle's first female news reporters.

"She was a very hard-working, determined, tough person," said her husband, Bob Lane, also a retired Times reporter.

Some of those she covered or worked with over the years used similar words to describe her: Fair. Accurate. Even-tempered. Professional.

"I don't think Polly ever went for sensationalism to enhance a negative story just for the publicity it brought," said Frank Shrontz, retired president, chief executive officer and board chairman of Boeing.

Mrs. Lane also served as a spirited role model.

"I would describe her as a classic deadline reporter who had great sources ... and could turn a complicated aerospace story on a dime," said Stanley Holmes, national correspondent for BusinessWeek magazine who covered aerospace with Mrs. Lane at The Times.

Knowing that Mrs. Lane was dealing with cancer while managing a stressful job without complaint was inspiring to Holmes. "It makes me think if I could ever handle the same situation she did with such grace, humility and professionalism; I don't know if I could."

Born in Seattle in 1936, Mrs. Lane moved at a young age to Bothell, where her dream was to be a reporter.

She worked on the Bothell High School newspaper and during summers for the community newspaper. At the University of Washington — where she met her future husband in journalism school — Mrs. Lane was editor of The Daily.

After graduation, the couple married in 1957 and began a partnership that focused on family, journalism and boating. They had a son and daughter.

"There was a lot of magnetism ... I think we were a good team," Bob Lane said.

Her tenure at The Times began in 1966, when it was uncommon for women to be hired into careers. But at The Times, "Polly was one of the people who broke through that reluctance ... simply by demonstrating that she was a very good reporter," said Alex MacLeod, retired managing editor.

Mrs. Lane never lectured her children about feminism. Instead, she taught by example that "I can do whatever I want, whatever I put [my] mind to," said her daughter, Martha Walsh, of Seattle.

She also didn't compromise family for career. "She lived out the old traditions of keeping a home. Good china. Good silverware. Lace tablecloths," Walsh said. "She told me I had to have these things." And she taught her daughter how to make a good pie crust.

Mrs. Lane also insisted that her children use appropriate English, said her son, Doug Lane, of Seattle, successfully banning the word "actually" from family conversations as unnecessary. Her son became a senior manager for Boeing.

"She understood the types of things I could not tell her about," he said. "But it did not stop her from asking."

He guesses: "I'm probably one of the few people around who, when they go to family gatherings and are asked, 'How's it going at work?' I'd have to say, no comment."

Mrs. Lane retired in 2000 and moved with her husband to a half-acre on a wooded hillside in Anacortes. She did a little copy editing but mainly gardened, listened to classical music and read romance novels. The couple loved boating, but her greatest joys were her twin granddaughters.

She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1979. "She was unafraid to talk about it and she realized the fact that she was surviving was a source of hope for other people," MacLeod said.

Mrs. Lane is survived by her husband and children. At her request, there will be no public memorial service. Remembrances may be made to the University of Washington Medical Center or Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.