Throughout 30-year careers that felt more like a calling than actual work, teacher BFFs (“best friends forever,” for those over 40) Lise Weig and Lorraine Horgan have always had each other’s backs. While delivering dedicated instruction for over three decades, the two have shared much joy, many smiles, and a few tears. Now they’ll celebrate retirement together at the end of June.
Both educators started their teaching careers in Wayland at The Children’s Way before later being hired by Principal emeritus John Talbot at Happy Hollow. Both teachers agree that Talbot’s leadership and welcoming manner contributed to their success.
Weig remembered how nervous she was during her initial interview. She fondly remembers that on that hot, sweltering summer day he welcomed her with a warm smile and handed her a blue popsicle.
Horgan recounted how Talbot mailed her job offer letter to her parents’ house so they received the news of her hire before she did. A few days after her interview her parents invited her for dinner, cooked her favorite meal, and congratulated her on getting her first classroom.
“He wanted them to have the joy of sharing the news with me first,” Horgan said. “That gesture meant the world to me and my family. In that moment, John allowed me to shine in my parents’ eyes, and that is something I will never forget.”
The two quickly bonded as colleagues and found that they had many things in common.
“We have the same teaching philosophy, teaching style, beliefs, sense of humor… we truly finish each other’s sentences!,” Weig said, “I wouldn’t be where I am today as a teacher and human being without her presence in my life.”
The pair started their teaching journey together and remained in the district for their entire career. Neither could imagine working in a different school system.
Weig worked at The Children’s Way for three years, and Happy Hollow for 29 years, with the first three as a kindergarten teacher and the next 26 teaching first grade. Horgan taught Pre-K, kindergarten, and first grade, and eventually found her way back to kindergarten for the final stretch of her career.
Weig and Horgan stayed the course even as the passing decades brought significant changes and challenges to the field of education. They made the transition from chalk boards and mimeograph machines to digital everything, even ditching their hard-copy grade books for an online grading platform. They also became well-versed in lockdown drills, witnessed an increase in standardized testing and weathered a pandemic where they taught in masks and became fluent in Zoom. And through it all, being in the classroom with their students remained their favorite home away from home.
Some of Weig’s favorite units and memories included enjoying hatching chickens every spring, science units like the Life Cycle of the Chicken and Penguins, and watching kids make connections and showing each other kindness. Horgan loved sharing the love of books with her students.
“There’s just so much that can come from reading together; learning fascinating facts about whales, noticing story patterns, talking about friendship, and exploring important lessons about honesty, kindness, and responsibility,” Horgan said. She also enjoyed teaching her students about Martin Luther King Jr.
But, as precisely as teachers plan for their lessons, they also know that sometimes the day can take a different turn. Weig reflects back to a time when she had to perform the Heimlich maneuver.
”It was back in the day when kids could get ice cream on Fridays, so they would bring in 50 cents, usually two quarters,” she explained. “One of my students popped one of the quarters in her mouth and swallowed it. I saw her choking in the back row of our meeting rug area so trying not to call too much attention to the situation, I calmly walked over to the back row, performed the Heimlich, and out popped the quarter onto the rug!” Thanks to her awareness, calm nature, and training the student was fine and the rest of the day went off without a hitch.
Retirement will be bittersweet as the duo reflect on the things that they will miss the most, including connecting with students’ families, colleagues and staff, seeing past students stop in to visit and say hello, and sharing those “you’ll never believe what happened today!” hysterical and heart-warming stories with teacher friends at the end of the day.
“I will miss the sense of purpose that comes with being part of the very beginning of a child’s school journey,” Horgan said. “There’s something incredibly special about helping young children build confidence, independence and a love of school right from the start. One of the unique things of being a kindergarten teacher is getting to continue to watch those same children grow and mature in the years that follow.”
When asked about their plans for the first day of retirement and thereafter Horgan looks forward to sleeping in, drinking her coffee in leisure and knowing that the day is completely her own.
“I think retirement for me looks less like nonstop activity and more like freedom — the freedom to slow down and do things when they make sense instead of when the calendar says I have to,” she said.
Weig’s first day of retirement looks similar. She said she will set the clock for the same wake up time, 4:10 a.m., get up and drink lots of coffee but not have to go out the door. ”I don’t have a grand plan beyond just listening to my heart for new opportunities.”
The best friends will now enter a new, well deserved chapter of life — together.
“We came to Wayland within a year of each other and are now retiring together, a full circle movement, for sure,” Weig said. “One day we’ll write a book with all the tales from teaching kindergarten and first grade together. You couldn’t make up some of these stories!”
