Randy Weseman

Longtime Lawrence educator and former district superintendent Randy Weseman has died. He was 72.

Weseman died Jan. 23 after “a hard-fought battle” with lymphoma, according to his obituary.

He was born in Garden City in 1949 and served in the U.S. Air Force, including two tours in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War.

He attended the University of Kansas on the GI Bill and also completed a master’s degree in guitar performance with the Berklee College of Music in Boston.

He worked in the Lawrence school district as a teacher, coach and principal for more than 33 years and retired as superintendent in 2009.

As superintendent, he oversaw the opening of Langston Hughes Elementary School, the creation of the Lawrence Virtual School and the implementation of full-day kindergarten, among other achievements.

After retiring from the Lawrence district he served three years as the interim superintendent of the Tonganoxie school district.

He also worked as the CFO for the Kansas Association of School Boards. He retired from that position in June 2020.