Last Relative Who Knew Will Rogers Passes Away

The last relative of Will Rogers who actually knew the humorist personally passed away on Sunday.

Doris "Coke" Meyer was the daughter of Will Rogers' nephew James Gunter Lane, which made her Will's great niece.

Doris Lolita Lane Meyer was born on November 12, 1919 in Chelsea, Oklahoma. She was nicknamed "Coke" as a child because she loved the drink so much.

In 2012, she published a book called, "I Called Him Uncle Will."

In the book she described a visit her famous great uncle made to her family's home in Bartlesville in the early 30s. Her father picked up Will and brought him to the house where her mother had prepared his favorite kind of chili for lunch. After lunch, she wrote, her father took Uncle Will to downtown Bartlesville where he met with city leaders and VIPs, including his friend, oilman Frank Phillips.

She said Uncle Will then spent the night at Woolaroc with the Phillipses. 

As Will left the house to head to downtown that day, she wrote, he was greeted by a crowd of children who'd somehow found out that a superstar was inside. He took time to shake every kid's hand and offer each a personal word, she said.

A few days later her mother received a call from a woman who lived nearby. She told Coke's mother that her son refused to wash his hand because Will had shaken it. Coke's mother assured the boy that Will Rogers would visit again and that the boy would have another chance to shake Will's hand.

According to her obituary published by Walker-Brown Funeral Home, Meyer was very active in the Pocahontas Indian Women’s Club of Claremore, The Bartlesville Indian Women’s Club and the Will Rogers Memorial.  She was also active in multiple historical societies, the American Legion Auxiliary, the National Museum of the American Indian, the Washington County Cherokee Association, the Salvation Army and other numerous groups.

The funeral home says Coke is survived by two sons: Jerry Meyer and wife Suzie of Liberty, Kansas; Jim Meyer and wife Susan of Bartlesville as well as five grandchildren and two great grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents; husband, James W. Meyer; son, Billy Bob Meyer; brother, Bob Lane and three sisters; Ethel “Mimi” Nichols, Jane McDonald and Maude “Pudgie” Tucker.