LARRY A. RYLE HIGH SCHOOL
Roman Catholic Diocese of Covington. Lane served at the Our Savior Catholic Church, located at 242 E. 10th St. in Covington. In 1917, when the United States entered World War I, Lane signed up to become a camp secretary with the Catholic Knights of Columbus organization. After basic training at Camp Zachary Taylor, near Louisville, Ky., he was stationed in France. He was a graduate of Fordham University in New York City and attended St. Mary Seminary in Cleveland, Ohio, and St. Vincent Seminary in Latrobe, Pa. He was ordained in 1933 by Bishop John Swint in Wheeling, W.Va. Before he came to Covington, Lane served in the Diocese of Port of Spain, Trinidad, British West Indies. Bishop Francis W. Howard spearheaded an effort to form an African American church and school as a mission of the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption, and in 1943 the decision was made to do so. At one time, this new parish, named Our Savior Catholic Church, had both a grade and a high school; most of the students were from Covington and Newport. In 1945 the parish priest at Our Savior was Rev. Henry Haacke, assisted by the newly arrived Rev. William LeRoy Lane. At this time and throughout the 1940s, the parish school at Our Savior had 60 students enrolled in grades one through eight. Lane’s primary mission was to work with the people of the surrounding neighborhoods and to attract converts to the church. He was of great help to the African American children, as he received clothing in the form of jackets for the boys at the school from the Eilerman Clothing Store (see Eilerman & Sons, Men’s Clothiers). He sought the assistance of another African American priest from Cincinnati to teach diction in the school. However, Lane was very outspoken on the question of racial prejudices. His efforts had attracted many converts, but it was time for him to move on. Lane left Covington in late 1947. Afterward, Lane secured temporary assignments in various cities throughout Wisconsin and Minnesota. In 1951 he arrived in the Diocese of Dallas, Tex., after a two-year tour of duty as an assistant priest at the Holy Cross Church in Austin, Tex. Later, he was named assistant pastor of St. Charles Parish in Gainesville, Tex. In 1961 Lane was appointed assistant pastor of Holy Cross Parish in Dallas and became pastor there in 1964. At that time, he was one of only two African Americans among about 300 priests in the Diocese of Dallas. His appointment as pastor of the Holy Cross Parish made Lane the first African American priest to lead a congregation in the Dallas Diocese. Lane’s ministry flourished in the racially mixed Holy Cross Parish, which in 1965 consisted of 400 families. He retired as pastor due to failing health in 1967 and served as the associate chaplain of St. Joseph Hospital in Fort Worth, Tex., until his death in 1968. He was buried at Calvary Hill Cemetery in Dallas. Foley, Albert S. God’s Men of Color. New York: Arno Press, 1969. Harris, Ted. “School’s Pioneer,” KP, October 27, 2005, 6K. The Official Catholic Directory. New York: P. J. Kennedy, 1946–1949.
Reis, Jim. “Our Savior Fills Unique Niche,” KP, January 17, 1994, 4K. “Rev. William LeRoy Lane,” Archives, Diocese of Dallas, Tex.
Theodore H. H. Harris
LANFERSIEK, WALTER B. (b. February 3, 1873, Cincinnati, Ohio; d. March 1, 1962, Cincinnati, Ohio). Walter B. Lanfersiek, who became a political activist, was the son of William Henry and Elizabeth (Ellerman) Lanfersiek. He graduated from Woodward High School in Cincinnati (1891) and received a Bachelor of Law degree from the University of Cincinnati (1895). Having become enamored with the socialism of Eugene V. Debs, Walter married a kindred spirit, Pearl A. Blanchard, in 1906 in a ceremony performed by noted Cincinnati socialist and future congressman Rev. Herbert Bigelow. After working at various jobs, including that of an actor, Lanfersiek was practicing law in Newport in 1910 and living at 502 Washington Ave (today the Mansion Hill Tavern). He and Pearl crusaded for more city parks, better health care for the poor, and the redistribution of wealth. Lanfersiek ran on the 1910 Socialist ticket for U.S. Congress in the Sixth District of Kentucky; in 1911 he was the unsuccessful Socialist candidate for governor of Kentucky, receiving 8,718 votes. In May 1913 he was elected national executive secretary of the Socialist Party of America and moved to Chicago to fulfi ll his duties. He held that position until 1916. Over time, Lanfersiek had become a confidant of Debs and a participant in his presidential campaigns. During World War I, Lanfersiek became involved in the Socialist Peace movement. In 1917 he changed his name to Walter B. Landell, one of his former stage names, following the practice of assuming an alias that was common with many of his left-leaning contemporaries. He went on to work for the American Red Cross and as a proofreader in several southwestern Ohio cities. He came to believe that communist Russia was the utopia for the future. Lanfersiek died at a nursing home in the Avondale area of Cincinnati, unrecognized locally for what he once had been nationally. He was buried at Evergreen Cemetery, Southgate. Haines, Randall A. “Walter Lanfersiek: Socialist from Cincinnati,” BCHS 40, no. 2 (Summer 1982): 124–44. Papers of Eugene V. Debs, Indiana State Univ. Library, Terre Haute, Ind. “Socialist and Wife Running for Office Teach Creed to Baby,” KP, November 4, 1910, 3.
Michael R. Sweeney
LANG’S CAFETERIA. Frank T. Lang (1892– 1971), the owner of this Covington restaurant, was the American-born son of German immigrants Theodore and Clara Rauchfuss Lang, who settled in Louisville. As a young adult, Frank traveled to Newport to join his brother Hugo in the baking business. Later he struck out on his own, opening a sandwich shop in 1928 at 623 Madison Ave. in Covington, named simply Lang’s. Lang’s sandwich shop/Lang’s Cafeteria changed and expanded sev-
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eral times over the nearly 40 years at the Madison Ave. location. In the 1930s additional space was acquired and decorated to express a Spanish theme, and the business became Lang’s Spanish Tavern. The flood of 1937 found part of the restaurant under water. Subsequent renovations included a plaque to mark the spot where the floodwaters had reached. At this time there was a cafeteria downstairs; upstairs was a restaurant and sandwich shop. The walls were of decorative stucco and wood paneling, with iron lighting fi xtures in a Spanish motif. The cafeteria seated about 90 patrons and was open from 6:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. The upstairs stayed open until 1:00 a.m. and was a popular spot for a late-night sandwich and drinks. Beer was the only alcoholic beverage served. On July 4, 1944, a kitchen fire caused the closing of the upstairs. Fortunately, the cafeteria suffered only smoke damage and was able to continue serving customers. The upstairs was not reopened until four years later, because of the lack of adequate insurance and also the scarcity of building materials after World War II. The decor upstairs had changed again, by this time, to a more modern theme with indirect lighting and large original oil paintings of Kentucky by George Siegal. Gone were the sandwich and bar areas, and the space was dedicated to table ser vice catering to businessmen and families. The menu also changed from time to time. Frank Lang personally planned all the menus, bought the food, and supervised the cooking. Each morning he drove his large station wagon to “the bottoms” of Cincinnati, where he purchased fresh produce from the warehouses located along the riverfront. Lang was very proud of the quality of his food. The orange juice was fresh squeezed, and pure butter and cream graced the tables. The desserts and rolls were baked fresh daily. By 1967, when the Lang family sold the restaurant to R. B. Cameron and William A. Taylor, it had become Covington’s longestoperating restaurant. Two years later, in 1969, the restaurant closed. Colegrove, Albert M. “A Story of Auld Lang Syne,” KP, November 20, 1969. “Lang Restaurant Changing Hands,” KP, September 4, 1967.
Judy Lang Klosterman
LARRY A. RYLE HIGH SCHOOL. The Larry A. Ryle High School, a public secondary school in Boone Co., is located in the southern part of the county along U.S. 42, in Union. The namesake of the school, Larry A. Ryle, was a superintendent, a school administrator, a teacher, and a bus driver in Boone Co. When it opened in 1992, Ryle High School housed approximately 1,000 students in grades 7 through 12 on what had served as tobacco farmland for several decades. The campus of several hundred acres is also now home to both the Gray Middle School, opened in 1995, and the Mann Elementary School, opened in 2006. Today, Ryle High School is a comprehensive school with about 1,700 students in grades 9 through 12. The school’s goal is to provide the skills for students to excel and to contribute to the leadership,