Mr. Meep Meep's' running legacy is one of encouragement, love of kids
Watching hundreds of youngsters running in the Rapides Junior Runners race last Saturday would have been something that the late Don Lachney would have loved to see.
“He would have been so happy out here seeing all these kids running. He loved encouraging people to run,” said his wife Louise Lachney, a volunteer at the event.
Don died Aug. 8 of bladder cancer. He was 67 years old. For the past five years, he was a custodian at Tioga Junior High School where the students knew him as Mr. Meep Meep because he’d always say, “Meep Meep” just like the Road Runner, the Warner Bros. cartoon character that he loved.
“He loved it since he was little. That was always his thing,” said Louise.
She doesn’t think most of the students knew his real name because they always called him Mr. Meep Meep.
"I can't tell you how many times we'd be out at Walmart or Lowe’s and we’d hear ‘Meep Meep!’ Or across the street, you’d hear some kid yell ‘Meep Meep’ because he had ‘Meep Meeped’ it all up - because he was the Road Runner,” said Louise while laughing.
Donovan Christen, a freshman at Tioga High School, knew Don when he was a student at TJHS. He knew him as Mr. Meep Meep because he would always fist-bump students and say, “Meep Meep.”
“That was his personality. That’s what we always called him,” he said.
Donovan recalls that Don would get him and his friend drinks from the vending machine.
“He was always really nice,” said Donovan.
Laynee Gibbs, a sophomore at THS, knew Don from the two years she attended TJHS.
Don made days a little brighter
"He was one of those persons who went above and beyond to make you feel special and make your day a little brighter,” she said.
She said Don was always there to help encourage them to get through the monotony of the day.
“He'd be the person who would be there every day, like put a smile on your face. And be like, ‘It's OK. You got this. Come on.’ Every day he'd be that person I would look forward to seeing. If I'm having a bad day, I know he'd be right there smiling, laughing,” said Laynee.
Even though Laynee is a high school student now, for the two years she was at TJHS Don left an impact on her that she hasn’t forgotten, said Christy Kelley, JAG specialist at THS.
“I remember when I first got here, that was one of the weird adjustments, like I wouldn't have him anymore,” said Laynee.
Kelly, who was the JAG specialist at TJHS before moving to the high school, said her JAG students worked very closely with Don.
"Once we found out he was diagnosed with cancer, we had them help him with taking out trash and picking up stuff off the floor and carrying stuff downstairs because he was just physically unable to and we knew he was in pain. So multiple students worked very close with them every day,” said Kelley.
When Kelley told Don she was moving over to the high school, she said the running joke was that she was going to take him with her.
“And he's like, ‘I'm not going to that high school!’ and I'm like, ‘Yes, you are!’,” she said.
The first day of school was held the day of Don’s funeral.
“Over there is our photograph together,” said Kelley. “I sent it to Louise and I said, ‘Joke’s on him. He’s with me the first day of school.’”
She walked over to a bookshelf to get the framed photo that was taken at the “Freezin’ for a Reason” fundraiser held for the non-profit Shepherd’s PIE that was hosted by the Pineville Fire Department.
His last day of chemo was right before they did the race back in February, she said.
Looking at the photo, she said, “He’s my buddy."
An avid runner
Don was well known in the running community. He ran with the local chapter of Team RWB for years when it used to be here, said Louise.
And he was well known because he ran in a lot of local races around the area and the state.
“If there was a 5K, he was probably signed up for it,” said Louise. “That’s mostly what we have around here are 5Ks and 10Ks.”
Don worked late nights for years, said Louise. Once he got off work, he would go run a 5K race. He used to run as many races as he could and he liked running because he was fast.
Louise and Don officially met at a half marathon in New Orleans.
"It was really funny because we had been at six or seven races at the same time without ever meeting,” she said.
And, they are in a group photo together but they never actually met each other.
"I was on the bottom part and he was on the top part of this big group picture,” said Louise. “We have a picture of us together before we even knew each other existed.”
Don had many medals from his years of running in races.
Before he died, they talked about what to do with all his medals. They thought about sending his medals to different organizations that recycle them.
"But then I decided that we were just going to give them to kids here because so many of the kids loved Mr. Meep-Meep,” she said. And Don loved those kids in return.
“I decided that we were going to do it that way," she said.
Louise contacted some of the teachers he knew at TJHS who were close to Don, including Kelley. She wanted to get the names of some of the students because she wanted to write a note for each of the students to accompany the medal that they would get.
Don kept running logs of all his races so she was going to tell them about the race for which the medal was for and his running time.
“He just kind of believed in the kids. He had kids that would help him do stuff around the school,” she said.
There were students who would always make sure to say, “Hi” to him or look for him or ask for him, said Louise.
The students may not know Louise and they have never met each other but she knows their names because Don used to tell her stories about them after coming home from work, said Kelley.
“I wanted to make sure if they wanted something to remember Mr. Meep Meep, I thought that would be a good thing to give them,” said Louise of the medals and notes.
Kelley said she and the other teachers are just starting to put together a list of students who supported and helped Don, especially during the time he had the end stages of cancer.
“Off the top of my head, I know four kids that I could think of that worked with him all the time,” she said. “We talked about some kids, like our CBT (cognitive behaviour therapy) classrooms, that they all loved him."
Since they just started working on this, it might be around November before they can get around to passing out the medals.
Started running at Tioga High School
Don started running when he was a student at THS where he graduated from in 1974.
“He actually ran track in high school and I actually still have his track spikes,” said Louise, adding that Don was a pack rat.
He started running when he 14 or 15 years old and had been running ever since.
What drew him to running?
"I don't know. I think he just enjoyed running. For him, that was his way of coping and dealing. It was his escape,” said Louise.
She said it was obvious when he hadn’t been running in awhile because he’d be in a mood.
"That was his medicine, if that makes sense. That was his way of dealing with things when he needed to deal with things,” she said.
Don’s favorite race was Run for Your Life.
“He liked Run for Your Life. 2024 will be 15 years of Run for Your Life and this will be the first one he wasn’t at,” said Louise as she became emotional. “He never missed Run for Your Life.”
He tried to be the first one to sign up for the race every year because that’s the race he liked doing and he did not miss that race, she said.
Another local race, the Grace Race 5K/1 Mile Fun Run will be dedicated to Don, she said.
And if the race was to raise awareness about something, he would dress all out for it, said Louise. There are pictures of him in tutus running down the road.
What Louise hopes is that Don’s legacy will be the encouragement he gave to everyone. To him, it didn’t matter if they were the fastest or the slowest ones in a race. It only mattered that they did their best.
This article originally appeared on Alexandria Town Talk: Mr. Meep Meep's' running legacy is one of encouragement, love of kids
