Canzano: 'The best second-grade teacher ever'
A column on Daniel Lanning and Ms. Weate.
The lady the kids called “Ms. Weate” says elementary school teachers shouldn’t have favorite students, but after 31 years in the business, she knows better.
“That’s a lie,” she told me. “All teachers have favorites.”
Daniel Lanning was one of hers. So was his brother, David. She was 24 and in her second year on the job when she first encountered the Lanning family.
“Those two boys ended up as candlelighters in my wedding,” she told me.
Ms. Weate’s first name is Gail. She married a man she met on a Southwest Airlines flight. She was returning from an educational conference and had a stack of postcards in front of her on the plane. She was busy writing to each child in her class.
“A school teacher?” Rob asked.
“I am,” Gail said.
“I’m a consumer electronics rep for Casio,” he said. “I can get your students free calculators if you’d like.”
Those two passengers fell in love, got married, and had children of their own. A boy named Gavin and a girl, Hollie. Life was a dream, that is, until Rob was diagnosed with brain cancer. He fought it for 14 years. There were radiation treatments, hospital stays, surgeries, and chemotherapy. He lost the ability to speak near the end.
Rob died in 2016.
It tore a hole in Ms. Weate’s heart.
“It was life-changing,” she said.
Lanning grew up to become a college football coach, of course. Ms. Weate still follows him. This spring, he’s charged with leading one of the top programs in the country, the University of Oregon. I asked Lanning’s second-grade teacher what he was like in class.
“Daniel was a funny, funny kid,” she told me. “He loved science, and he always observed everything. What a darling. He was a darling little boy. My hair was about as big as my car. I had this big perm. It was the 1990s.”
Ms. Weate called me on Wednesday. She told me that little Daniel Lanning had donated to a charity she founded in her husband’s honor. After his death, she noted that families impacted by brain cancer were stressed and frayed.
The finances were a challenge. She founded a non-profit — “Be Headstrong” — that supports the families of patients fighting brain cancer.
“We help with anything they need help with,” she said. “Gas, motels, groceries, whatever. Nobody in our organization makes a penny. Brain cancer is so expensive.”
The charity’s average grant: $1,020.
Lanning donated an auction lot that included an autographed Oregon helmet and jersey. Also, two sideline passes for the team’s home football game against Portland State next season. The lot started with a high bid of $200 but escalated above $2,000 in just a few hours. The auction closes on Sunday.
Ms. Weate called me in tears on Wednesday.
“I’ll never forget this,” she said.
I read something this week about the problems we all think we have. If you wrote your worries on a slip of paper and put it in a hat filled with everyone else’s problems, would you willingly reach in and trade yours for theirs?
Ms. Weate understands life perspective. She watched her husband fight a nasty and relentless brain tumor. Her son was just a high school sophomore when his father died. His school arranged a surprise when it became apparent Rob wouldn’t make it much longer.
They invited him to a musical recital. He sat in a wheelchair, smiling, as Gavin and his classmates performed a private concert featuring one of Rob’s favorite songs — U2’s “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.”
Then, Gavin secretly slipped on a cap and gown, and the school held an impromptu graduation ceremony, two years early. Rob beamed as he saw his son receive his diploma and walk as the first graduate of his class.
“Being able to have that happen was really spectacular,” Gavin told a local TV news station after the ceremony.
I suppose today’s column is a reminder. Daniel, that second-grade kid, didn’t forget where he came from or who helped him get there. Ms. Weate hasn’t forgotten her pupil, either. She’s attended a couple of Oregon football games and remains close with his parents, Don and Janis. She still sees the Lanning family a couple of times a year and likes to visit when Daniel and David are home.
Cancer is insidious.
It hits hard.
It doesn’t discriminate.
Sauphia Lanning, Dan’s wife, beat osteosarcoma herself. Five times over the years, the Ducks have worn football uniforms with cancer-themed missions. In 2024, UO wore a “Heroes” uniform designed with elements suggested by Dan and Sauphia and each of their three sons. It was a big deal. Not just for the Lanning family, I realize now, but also for Ms. Weate, too.
She’s still teaching, of course. Three decades later. Her perm of the 1990s is gone. New students. New school. And the lady once known as Ms. Weate has an Oregon Ducks football in her classroom with an inscription from Daniel Lanning.
It reads: “To the best 2nd-grade teacher ever!”
Turns out students have favorites, too.
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Great column! It takes me back to nice memories of some of the great elementary teachers that I had.
Great piece John. I'm sure your advertising of the auction has boosted the bids a good bit. Without you, local Duck fans would never have known.