Terese Lyons Lane of Hanover, N.H., and Aquinnah, died on March 7. She had been a longtime seasonal resident of the Vineyard, tracing her Island roots to the late 1800s.

She was born on July 11, 1921, the daughter and only child of Benjamin and Minnie Fisher Lyons of Brooklyn, N.Y. She lived in Brooklyn until her marriage to Alvin S. Lane in 1949. The couple moved to Riverdale, N.Y., where they lived at various addresses throughout their 58-year marriage. The Lanes had two daughters, Mary-Jo, born in 1951, and Judith Lyons in 1953.

Alvin Lane died in September, 2007.

Terese was a very attractive infant, and her photograph appeared in a city newspaper above the caption, “Prettiest Flatbush Baby.” She was 11 months old.

“Her father rigged up a sort of crib for her that was attached to the window on the outside of their apartment building,” recalled her daughter Judy Lane. “There are pictures of her in this crib; they had no porch to put the baby outside on, and her dad felt that fresh air and sunshine were very important. Maybe that’s where the photographer saw her, out there in her air crib.”

Daughter Mary-Jo Lane added, “She had a really good life. She was a single child surrounded by adoring adults and had a bunch of childhood friends, many of whom she retained throughout her life. She looked Irish, very petite, with light eyes and fair skin. She was always dressed to the nines, and never went through an awkward stage.”

Terese was a graduate of Brooklyn’s Adelphi Academy, a school she loved, both for its academic rigor and emphasis on the integration of the arts and sciences. Throughout her life she was a passionate lover of all creative norms; she was singularly devoted to dramatic and musical theatre, film, ballet, and opera. She felt fortunate to have been born in New York city with its variety of cultural offerings. She never lost her love of the performing and the fine arts, and enthusiastically availed herself of the exceptional educational opportunities the city provided.

She entered Columbia University, where she studied interior decorating for two years. The second World War interrupted her studies, and she went to work. Her shift from college student to career woman was not difficult, since she was able to find employment in fields where her organizational skills and creative intelligence could be put to good purpose. Terese worked in the decorating department of B. Altman’s, in the advertising department of Woman’s Home Companion for Crowel-Collier Publishing, and in the book production department of Doubleday and Company.

She met her future husband on a blind date in April, 1948. Alvin Lane’s matchmaking mother, Nettie, arranged their meeting, but it took some time. Every night at dinner, a piece of paper with Terese’s phone number would appear on Alvin’s plate, put there by Nettie. Alvin resisted for months. Although he had seen action as a Naval lieutenant in the Pacific during the recent war, including in major enemy engagements such as the battle of Midway, Alvin was no match for his mother’s persistence. He finally gave in. He called Terese, they met for a date, and were married exactly one year later.

Terese was active in community affairs, both in Riverdale and in the larger community of New York city. She was an active member of the League of Women Voters, was instrumental in the establishment of the Riverdale Mental Health Association, and every spring she ran a house tour for the Arthritis Foundation.

The Lane children grew up in a house on Delafield avenue that had been Lou Gehrig’s house, after he left the Yankees, for the last two years of his life. They lived there until 1973.

A noted gourmet cook, Terese was a great fan of Zabar’s. She loved to read, and had a particular love of biographies and history. She encouraged her children to be readers, got them library cards, and limited television.

The Lanes were close friends to many artists, including Alexander Calder, Christo and Jean-Claude, Seymour Lipton, and Theodore Roszak, among others.

They admired the work of Louise Nevelson, the sculptor whose huge constructions of found objects had established her artistic reputation. “Louise became a family friend, invited to all major family gatherings, including vacations on the Vineyard,” recalled Judy.

Once her daughters were grown and gone, Terese found a perfect volunteer activity, conducting a cultural enhancement program at PS#81 in North Riverdale, a local public school, for 15 years.

She reluctantly gave up working with the program after hearing loss made it difficult to hear the children’s soft voices when they asked questions.

“She had a presence,” recalled her daughter Mary-Jo. “My mother was not intimidated by anyone or anything. When I was living away from home in an apartment, she was the only person who could feed, Patty, the cat, who was like a guard dog when we were away. The cat snarled and spit, and wouldn’t let anyone into the apartment. My mother would just sail past this growling cat, set out her food, then leave. She never blinked an eye.”

Alvin and Terese collected modern sculpture and sculptors’ drawings throughout their marriage. They amassed an impressive collection of modern art, which has been donated to the Chazen Museum of Art at the University of Wisconsin as the Terese and Alvin Lane Collection. Nevelson’s Cathedral Garden number four was included in the donated collection. At present, the museum is in the process of building an addition where there will be room to display a portion of the collection.

The Lanes traveled extensively throughout Europe, Asia and Africa. They visited museums and galleries, attended lectures, and increased their knowledge of the cultural influences of artistic expression. The family made trips to Switzerland where the girls were taught to ski; both parents were accomplished skiers.

Later in life, Terese went to England and took courses at the University of Cambridge during the summer. Her father was English, and she was an ardent Anglophile. When her courses were completed, she would spend the remainder of the season on the Vineyard.

She had a long connection with the Vineyard; her grandfather lived in New Bedford and enjoyed holidays on the Island in the 1870s. She first came to the Vineyard at the age of 10 in the summer of 1931 to escape a polio epidemic in New York city. She loved the Island, and was eager to return and establish a vacation home there.

But Alvin was not enthusiastic about the idea. His own Vineyard experience, in the waning days of World War II, had been miserable. As punishment for some perceived insubordination, he had been stationed at the Martha’s Vineyard Airport for an entire winter. He swore he would never return; he hated the cold, dull and too-quiet Island.

But Terese was able, with much coaxing, to convince him in 1951 to return for a vacation. That summer sojourn changed Alvin’s mind, and the Lanes returned yearly for vacations. They stayed at the Harborside Inn in Edgartown until they bought land in Aquinnah and built their home there in the mid-1960s. They continued to spend summers there until the end of their lives.

Terese enjoyed playing tennis and golf; in her later years, she was a regular player in a boule game held on summer Sundays in Aquinnah.

She is survived by her daughters, Mary-Jo Lane and her husband Robert Harris of Santa Fe, N.M., and Judith Lane and her husband Mark Mattson of Oakham; two grandchildren, Ian and Roger Mattson; and a close cousin, Nancy Cowan Weisman of Atlanta, Ga.

Her ashes, including Hershey’s Kisses (one of her last requests), will be interred next to those of her late husband in the West Tisbury cemetery. Interment will be private. A celebration of her life, featuring her favorite desserts and music, will be held on her birthday, July 11, at the Aquinnah house.

Anyone wishing to make a donation in her name is asked to contribute to public television or radio.