West Valley Outdoor Learning Center teacher Warryn Hanson left big impact on kids, co-workers, family

One of the founders of the West Valley Outdoor Learning Center, teacher Warryn Hanson, died last month in a hiking accident, leaving his family and former co-workers struggling with his loss. He was 67.

“He started the center,” said Outdoor Learning Center director Jami Ostby-Marsh. “He was the certified teacher on staff when I came.”

The Outdoor Learning Center is known for housing birds of prey that travel to classrooms in the West Valley School District, but there are other animals there too, including tortoises, reptiles and guinea pigs. The center married Hanson’s love of teaching and love of the outdoors, Ostby-Marsh said.

“He saw the impact of connecting kids with nature,” she said. “In teaching in the classroom, he found kids weren’t getting out as much. He started the hiking club at Ness (Elementary).”

As part of the hiking club Hanson would take students and their parents hiking each weekend. Along the way they would stop and talk about the plants and animals they saw. He taught at Ness Elementary for many years and when the Center opened 18 years ago his job was to connect the Center to the district’s curriculum, Ostby-Marsh said.

At the time Ostby-Marsh was a paraeducator but soon got her teaching degree. That’s when Hanson stepped down as director to go back to a classroom at Ness Elementary. “There wasn’t room for two teachers,” she said.

Ostby-Marsh said she thinks Hanson stepped down to make way for her, though he also wanted to get back to the classroom and students he loved. He liked forming deep relationships with his students, she said. “He said it was for the kids,” she said. “I get to see the kids for one day and send them away.”

Hanson was a devoted teacher, she said. “Watching him teach, he was doing what he was meant to do.”

Each summer Hanson would work somewhere as a park ranger, sometimes in the backcountry on Mount Rainier. “That’s how he recharged himself to be ready to come back and teach kids again,” she said.

His son, Graham Hanson, said his father always had a passion for the outdoors. “He had a sincere enthusiasm for life and for learning and for teaching,” he said. “Dad had a nomadic spirit. He wanted to see every rock that was on this earth.”

But Hanson was also a devoted family man. He would take short but frequent trips to hike and spend time in the outdoors. When he could, he would bring his family along with him. “He just thought the world was beautiful and wanted to show people the beauty,” Graham Hanson said.

Hanson was known for wearing Converse shoes to school every day and at his funeral last week, everyone was wearing Converse shoes in his memory, Ostby-Marsh said. “I always tell everyone I meet that Warryn was my favorite human being on the planet,” she said. “Everybody loved Warryn. He was a nice guy.”

That could be seen in his relationships with students as well, she said. “He was super kind and patient,” she said. “Every kid had something to offer.”

Ostby-Marsh remembers a phone call she had with Hanson after he returned to teaching. He was on his way to a swimming lesson because his son Graham had signed up for an Ironman Triathlon and wanted his father to do it with him.

Graham Hanson said neither he nor his father had ever done anything like a marathon or triathlon, but they used to watch the Ironman as it passed in front of his father’s house in Coeur d’Alene. At the time Graham Hanson was living in Boise and was a recent college graduate. He called it a half-baked idea that came about from a desire to spend more time with his dad and his father agreed to the plan with “zero hesitation” even though he was 60 years old at the time.

They both struggled with the swimming portion. Graham Hanson said they were both reasonably adept at the dog paddle and not much else. “Neither of us knew how to swim a hundred yards, let alone 2 miles,” he said.

But they did it, and they did it together. “We crossed the finish line together at 11 o’clock at night,” Graham Hanson said.

Hanson retired from teaching two years ago, but that didn’t stop him from visiting the Center that he founded. He would jokingly call Ostby-Marsh Dr. Ostby and she called him Dr. Antson, a name given to him by students. “He would text me, ‘Doctor, can I come in for an appointment,’” she said. “He would bring his granddaughters.”

Hanson died doing what he loved, hiking a trail at Leigh Lake near Libby, Montana. Another hiker found his body. “He must have slipped or tripped or something,” Ostby-Marsh said.

Graham Hanson said he doesn’t think his father had ever hiked Leigh Lake before. “If Dad could pick a place to go, it would be on a hike somewhere with a beautiful view,” he said.

Osby-Marsh said she will remember Hanson’s hugs and his laugh. “I miss his laugh the most,” she said. “You couldn’t help but want to laugh with him. He had these eyes with just these huge, crinkly laugh lines. He was just the guy who could make you feel better if you were having a bad day.”

His son said he’s doing the best he can to move forward after his father’s death. “It was far too early,” he said. “I’m going to miss him immensely.”

Hanson is survived by his wife Sharon, brothers Kenn and Dennis Hanson, children Amber Hanson and Graham Hanson, and two grandchildren.