About Lane Calhoon Dolly

Lane Dolly
Before Lane Dolly’s love of travel and research drove her to novel writing, it led her from grassroots politics in her home state of Oklahoma to Washington, DC. She learned the ropes of partisan communication and logistics while working in the White House for President Ronald Reagan and for three Republican National Conventions, as well as in federal and state government, nonprofits and private firms. After earning a Master’s degree in Public Policy, Ms. Dolly turned her attention to politics and government during the pre-Civil War period in America.

Nearly forgotten tales of a missionary ancestor drove her investigation into the history of Indian Territory before Oklahoma’s statehood. The rich character who emerged after traveling thousands of miles and exploring for five years explained the gap in her family tree. Lane uncovered where the women in her family got their mettle. A Distant Call: The Fateful Choices of Hattie Sheldon will be followed soon by No Turning Back: The Harrowing Journeys of Hattie Sheldon. The unforgettable way Hattie Sheldon charted a course into the unknown and endured through factional violence, slavery, war, drought, and tragedy formed a strong central theme in Lane’s work – that following a dream and never giving up are the keys to a life well lived.

Following that example, Lane continues to research, write and travel. She splits her time between her original home in western Oklahoma, the political excitement of the Washington, DC area, and her adopted home of South Dakota.

With her great love of history, Lane follows in the steps of her grandmother, Wina Rae Calhoon, who was inducted posthumously to the Hall of Fame of Great Westerners at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma in 2004.

Education

Master of Arts in Public Policy, Regent University, Virginia Beach, VA

  • The Outstanding Graduate Award, Robertson School of Government
  • The Outstanding Scholarship Award, Robertson School of Government
  • Who’s Who, Robertson School of Government

Bachelor of Science, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK
Certified Personality Trainer and Speaker, CLASServices, Albuquerque, NM
Leadership Tulsa, Class of 1999

Press

Speaking

  • Chapter GA, PEO, Beaver, OK. March 14, 2016
  • Books People are Talking About, Peggy Helmerich Library, Tulsa, OK. May 18, 2016
  • Sheldon Association Meeting, Utica, NY. August 30, 2016

 

  • Neighbors Club Book Section, Arlington, VA. Jan. 14, 2015
  • First Monday Book Club, Tulsa, OK. Feb. 2, 2015
  • Rock Spring Avid Readers Book Club, Arlington, VA.  March 19, 2015
  • Alexandria Book Launch Party, Alexandria, VA. March 26, 2015
  • South Dakota Festival of Books, Deadwood, SD. Sept 2015
  • Author Day, Three Rivers Museum, Muskogee, OK. Nov. 7, 2015

 

  • Faces Magazine Book Signing, Van Nuys Gallery, Rapid City, SD.  Feb. 6, 2014
  • Hampton Roads Runners Club, Fairfax Station, VA.  March 26, 2014
  • University Methodist Book Club, Tulsa, OK.  April 14, 2014
  • Cimarron Territory Celebration, Beaver Co. Hist. Society, Beaver, OK.  April 19, 2014
  • Bless You Hearts Book Talk, Arlington, VA.  May 7, 2014
  • Prairie Pages Bookseller, Book Talk, Pierre, SD.  June 19, 2014
  • The Campagna Center, Alexandria, VA.  August 6, 2014
  • Coffee with the Author, Millsboro, DE.  August 20, 2014
  • Oneida County Historical Society, Book Talk, Utica, NY.  Sept. 12, 2014
  • South Dakota Festival of Books, Sioux Falls, SD. Sept. 2014
  • A Good Book & A Pot of Honeysuckle Tea with PEO, Oakton, VA.  October 10, 2014
  • Fun, Food & Friends Book Talk, Culpeper, VA.  October 19, 2014
  • Delmarva Christian Writers Fellowship, Georgetown, DE.  November 8, 2014
  • Double Blessing Holiday Gift Party, Campagna Center, Alexandria, VA. Nov. 9, 2014
  • NGO Conference: Establishing A Public Health Association, Moscow, Russia (1995)
  • Best Leadership Banquet keynote speaker, Alumni Association, Beaver, OK (1998)
  • Personality training: The Falls Church clergy (2004) & Women’s Retreat (2005), Falls Church, VA
  • Governor’s Office of Economic Development, Dolly Reid Building Dedication, Pierre, SD (2012)

 Reviews and Quotes

“Where do I start?  One very great strength, beyond the key ability to tell a story, is your character development with Hattie, showing her struggles as she tries to mature into a responsible young woman.  The circumstances in which you placed her were superb for this.  A second significant strength is the development of the supporting cast.  They were real and believable.  Third, you deal with the complexity of the slavery issue with the eye of a true historian.  You don’t oversimplify the problems.  Bottom line:  this is a wonderful piece of writing.”  – K. Alan Snyder, Professor, Dept. of Historical, Legal, and Leadership Studies, Southeastern University, Lakeland, FL

“The Campagna Center was fortunate to have Lane share A Distant Call with a group of middle and high school girls.  Lane’s talk – building on the story of Hattie Sheldon’s life – challenged our young participants to think about today’s society and to consider how they can work toward positive social change.  The presentation also left me thinking about my life and the role models that challenged me to never let the size of a problem interfere with believing it was possible to find a solution.”  – Tammy L. Mann, PhD, President & CEO, The Campagna Center, Alexandria, VA

“I’ve just finished No Turning Back and I am eagerly looking forward to book 3. It is so encouraging to read good, wholesome, Godly books. – Ian Lancaster, The Falls Church Anglican, Falls Church, VA

“When the past no longer illuminates the future, the spirit walks in darkness.”
— Alexis de Tocqueville

“We can be almost certain of being wrong about the future, if we are wrong about the past.”
— C. K. Chesterton

“Life, too, is like that. You live it forward, but understand it backward.”
— Abraham Verghese, Cutting for Stone
“To be an American is not…a matter of blood; it is a matter of an idea–and history is the image of that idea.”
— Robert Penn Warren

“‘And now the old story has begun to write itself over there,” said Carl softly. “Isn’t it queer: there are only two or three human stories, and they go on repeating themselves as fiercely as if they had never happened before; like the larks in this country, that have been singing the same five notes over for thousands of years.”
— Willa Cather, O Pioneers

“History consists, for the greater part, of the miseries brought upon the world by pride, ambition, avarice, revenge, lust, sedition, hypocrisy, ungoverned zeal, and all the train of disorderly appetite.”
— Edmund Burke

“History is not history unless it is the truth.”
— Abraham Lincoln

“I ain’t no historian, but I happen to savvy this incident.”
— Charles M. Russell