Rubye Lane
Rubye was a daughter of Robert Lane and Mary Blackstock and
a granddaughter of Jennings Thornton Lane and Eliza Jane Stevens, my great
grandparents. Rubye was a first cousin of my mother, Shirley Waller.
Linda Moore
Rubye died young, maybe not long after this picture was
taken.
Rubye attended nursing school in Danville, VA. After
graduating she worked awhile in Danville then went to the Walter Reed Army
hospital and thence to China as an army nurse in 1932. I have seen letters that
Rubye wrote home to sister Lottie Lane Moore, now in the possession of Linda
Moore. She writes in a positive tone of the boat trip through the Panama Canal
on the way to China. She writes positively of her experiences newly arrived in
China. But then the tone changes. She is not pleased with having her tour of
duty extended for another year, trying to encourage her sister to endure the
added separation. Then she tells of having a male friend. She is reservedly
elated; but then there is a non-committal note that he has gone elsewhere, sent
by the army to the north. That is all. The official report is that she has
committed suicide by drinking Carbolic Acid. Linda Moore and I agree that a
nurse could find a less painful way to end life.
Linda Moore
Sister Lottie
recorded her thoughts in a diary entry.