Joe Lane Sr.
1st Siletz Tribal Gaming Commission Chairman
April 1995 to November 1996

Joe Lane Sr. was born and raised in Siletz. He was the eldest of eight children born to Alfred and Maude Lane. Shortly after his marriage to Charlene Blosser he volunteered for the U S Army serving in the Pacific during World War II. He was training as a pilot when the war ended. Joe Sr. had a life-long love of music and was an accomplished musician.

Like many in the Siletz area, he found opportunities limited and moved to the Willamette Valley for increased education and employment opportunities. His musical abilities and a night job helped sustain his family while he attended college in Portland. He was the father of three children. Increased education and experience led to better jobs, but he did not forget the limited opportunities available to Tribal members and the almost complete absence of opportunities for Indians after termination.

Joe Sr. lived and worked in the Salem area for many years and was heavily involved in politics and civic activities during that time. His experience and contacts in politics would prove useful. In the 1970’s he began working with others on the issues and problems faced by Native Americans in Portland and surrounding areas. That work and the contacts from that work would lead to pursuit of Tribal reorganization and restoration. Those efforts are well documented in the Tribe’s history, The People are Dancing Again. Joe Lane Sr. led the early organizing and restoration efforts. It must be noted that he was ably assisted in those early efforts by Tribal Member Robert Rilatos who was every bit as determined and tenacious. Joe Sr. would become the first Tribal Chairman in the Tribe’s modern history. Another leader would emerge from the restoration effort; the Tribe’s longest serving Tribal Chairman, nationally recognized Indian leader, and youngest sibling of Joe Lane Sr., Delores Pigsley. Joe Lane Sr. died before completing his term as Chairman of the Siletz Tribal Gaming Commission.