NOVEMBER 11, 1997

George D. Zane Jr. a longtime Chief and elder of the Wyandot Nation of Kansas died Sunday at the University of Kansas Medical Center. He was 75.

A lifelong resident of Kansas City Kan. Zane led a fight in the late 1950's against the sale fof the tribe's historic cemetery in downtown Kansas City Kan., by the Wyandotte Tribe of Oklahoma.

Those sister branches of the tribe are again at odds over the cemetery, with the Oklahoma Wyandottes recently proposing to build and operate a high-stakes bingo parlor on the two-acre cemetery grounds.

"He was very distressed by the actions of the tribe in Oklahom," said Jan English, of Prairie Village who succeeded Zane as Chief last year. "He was a plainspoken man, but a man of integrity. We're going to miss him a great deal."

Services are set for 9:30 a.m. Wednesday at St. John the BAptist Catholic Church in Kansas City Kan.

English said Zane who was first elected Chief in 1957 following the death of his father who also was a chief had been ill.

Zane was a member of Hoisting Engineers Local 101. He leaves his wife Ann.

In 1959 Zane led a delegation to Washington to testify before Congress in an effort to block the Oklahoma group's sales plan. "Let the dead rest in peace" he told a congressional committee.

The two tribes also clashed in the early 1900's over the Oklahoma group's efforts starting around 1906 to sell the Kansas Cemetery tract for commercial purposes.

The tribe which migrated to Kansas from Ohio in 1843 under treaty with the U.S. Government split in 1855. ONe faction relocated to Oklahoma, but has successfully pressed its claim as the cemetery's lawful heirs. The local Wyandot branch is challenging that claim in court.

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CHIEF GEORGE D. (BUD) ZANE, age 75 passed away Sunday, November 9, 1997 at the University of Kansas Medical Center. Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 9:30 am Wednesday, November 12 at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, Kansas City, Kansas. Burial will follow in Maple Hill Cemetery Kansas City, Ks. Friends may call from 5:00 to 8:00 PM Tuesday at the Skradski Chapel, 340 North 6th St. Kansas City, Ks.

George was born in Kansas City, Kansas on January 10, 1922 to Albina German and George Zane Sr. He graduated from Wyandotte High School in 1940. He served in the Marine Corp during World War II and was a lifetime member of the Veterans of Foreign wars. He worked for the Hoisting Engineers, Local 101 for 33 years. He served as Chief of the Wyandot Nation of Kansas for 40 years. During his tenure he fought to preserve the Huron Cemetery and to keep it from being sold for commericial purposes. He also belonged to Eagles #87.

He is survived by his wife Anna L. Zane, two daughters, Cheryl Silich and Patricia White, two sisters, Mary Jones and Betty Mootz, two grandsons, Benjamin White and Martin White, a grandaughter Stacy Silich and a Great grandson Austyn White.