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Local shoe shop long-standing tradition in Palestine
T
here are many traditions we hold near and dear
to our hearts here in Palestine, and if you have
been around any length of time, you know
City Shoe Shop, in Historic Downtown, is one of those
traditions.
The seventy-six-year-old shop began like many others
during World War II when leather shoes were strictly
rationed, and families had to turn to repair shops to
keep their shoes in sound condition. After the war, the
shop continued to flourish, with many men in Palestine
having fond memories of their fathers taking them as
teenage boys to be fitted for their first pair of boots.
Billie Shephard started the shop, and Ernest Lane
purchased it in March 1943. Now Ernest’s son Robert
Lane is keeping the family tradition alive. Robert
remembers as a young child watching his dad repair
shoes and saddles. He remembers him carefully crafting
gun and knife holsters, or anything that was needed, out
of sides of leather.
Robert continued to build on the traditions of the
family business, repairing boots and shoes and selling a
wide variety of top name leather products. Then his life
came to an abrupt turning point in August 2018, when
he sat face-to-face with a team of doctors who were
crafting a plan to save his life.
His health crisis started in July 2018 when Robert had
a biopsy of a bump on the side of his head, which he
had first detected in the summer of 2017. A week later,
waiting on the results and while at the shop by himself,
Robert received a call from the surgeon stating the
bump was far from normal. It was an angiosarcoma, a
rare cancer of the lining of the blood vessels, and it had
spread to a lymph node in his neck.
“Sandra and I had already put together a ‘what if
it’s not good’ plan, and all I knew was I had to keep
moving forward,” Robert said. “I was still feeling good
so I just got the remaining work out, Sandra called the
customers to pick up by a certain date, and we put a
‘temporarily closed’ sign on the door and then headed
to MD Anderson in Houston to start chemo on August
27.”
Robert was extremely fortunate to be in the care of
doctors who were experts in this rare type of cancer.
“By God’s grace, Dr. Vinod Ravi, who quarterbacked the
team of doctors, was a head and neck angiosarcoma
specialist,” Robert said. “He told me ‘Stick with me, and if
you have ever had faith, now is the time to call upon it. I
will tell you it’s not the drugs that cure, it’s faith.’”
After sixteen weeks of chemotherapy and some
much-needed time at home with family for the
Christmas holiday, Robert geared up for the next step in
the plan, surgery.
“A week after surgery, I was at home with my wife and
daughter when we got the call from my surgeon, Dr.
Erich Sturgis, saying the pathology report couldn’t look
any better. Of course, we all cried!” Robert said. “Dr.
Sturgis then told me I would start prevention radiation
for six weeks.”
Robert and Sandra found their strength in their faith in
God, family and friends. “The outpouring of emails, texts
and prayers was overwhelming. People told us we were
on friends-of-friends prayer lists,” Sandra said. “I knew
Robert was strong. He has always been my knight in
shining armor, and the fact that the doctor said Robert
was in the top five percent of successful results with