A week after the Flight 5342 tragedy, Thayer Ice Arena had returned to a state of normalcy for its Learn to Skate program. The loss of one of their own, though, still lingered in the air.

“It’s surreal. It’s something you don’t ever think you’ll have to deal with,” said Katie McKenzie, a coach with Warwick Figure Skaters.

Many of the people in the arena knew Spencer Lane and his mother, Christine, who were among 67 people killed in the Jan. 29 crash of the airliner and military helicopter near Reagan National Airport. Spencer was a member of Warwick Figure Skaters, and he and his mom were returning from the National Development Camp, which was held alongside the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas, as part of the Skating Club of Boston. The two are survived by Christine’s husband and Spencer’s father, Doug, and Spencer’s brother, Milo.

Unlike many who pursue the sport, Spencer did not grow up figure skating. Rather, he took it up after being inspired by Nathan Chen’s 2022 Olympic Gold-winning performance. Not long after that, the Barrington native crossed Narragansett Bay and began training in March 2022, at 13 years old.  

While he trained in Warwick, Spencer’s main coach was McKenzie’s sister, Kristine McKenzie Wilkinson.

“He had the biggest personality, and he had the biggest smile,” Katie McKenzie said. “He worked so hard – he would try things that he probably shouldn’t have been trying at the level where he was. He just kept working, and he would work and fall and get back up and keep going. He was amazing.”

Spencer would constantly try new jumps while at the same time avoiding spins, to the extent that there was a running joke among the coaches and skaters that he would master complicated jumps before getting any of the basics down.

Throughout his year and a half in Warwick, McKenzie said, Spencer would end up nailing all of them, improving his weak spots and amplifying his strengths. On top of his talent, his personality made him a leader among his peers.

“His energy was infectious,” McKenzie said. “The other kids would feed off of him and just try things that he was trying…. The rink is cold. You can get tired easily. There are days where you don’t skate well, and it’s defeating, but he was always there to pick up another skater if need be.”

His fellow skaters warmed to Spencer quickly. McKenzie said he became friends with more established members of the Warwick Figure Skaters community.

“I just met him on a random session one day, and we just sort of clicked,” said fellow Warwick Figure Skater Kinzy Landy. “He didn’t really care what anybody thought he was – he was just going to do his own things. I loved that about him. He was a spitfire, definitely.”

After a year and a half in Warwick, Spencer became a member of the Skating Club of Boston, where he could train for a future in the sport and practice all day.

Even as he started moving up in the skating world, Spencer never forgot his roots. Another Warwick Figure Skater, Julia Myers, said she saw him practicing at Thayer Arena only a few weeks ago and ran over to catch up with him.

“Looking back, just thinking that it was just not even that long ago was a lot,” Myers said.

‘A rising star’

In only three years of skating, Spencer had achieved more than many skaters do throughout their entire careers, McKenzie said.

“It takes a long time to build the skill he gained in a short amount of time,” said Layla Oneppo, who skated with Spencer during his time at WFS. “He’d only been skating for three years, and he was already doing way more advanced stuff than a lot of skaters who have been skating since they were younger would ever be able to manage in their lifetime. He had pure talent.”

Fellow coach Annette Blackwell had a front-row seat to Spencer’s development. Her son, Patrick, was close friends with him, and the two first met when Spencer attended one of Patrick’s shows.

As Spencer continued to grow, Blackwell said she couldn’t believe how fast he picked up the more complicated aspects of the sport.

“I said to Patrick: ‘I’ve never met anybody like this who can develop this quickly,’” Blackwell said. “He’s a miracle. It’s phenomenal what he has done.”

Blackwell also remembered Christine as a parent who was always willing to help anyone who needed it.

“If there were ever any issues commuting, she would be like ‘Oh, no problem. I can pick up Patrick,’” Blackwell said. “She was so sweet and helpful. I’ll never forget it.”

McKenzie said that Christine and Doug Lane were at the rink all the time and supported Spencer and the WFS community consistently.

The National Development Camp is one of the most prestigious in the figure skating world, and those who knew Spencer said that seeing him get the invite was an incredible experience.

“I remember him telling me when he first started skating how he really wanted to go to the National Development Camp,” Oneppo said. “To finally see him there, I was just so proud of him, and to know that I was friends with someone who made it that far was just incredible.”

Even after joining the Skating Club of Boston, Spencer kept learning from his former coaches, and kept in touch with his Warwick friends frequently.

“He still had the same personality,” McKenzie said. “He was still humble, and super excited to show what he was doing.”

“He would come in, I would be teaching with Patrick, and he would come in our lessons and talk to us and continue to research,” Blackwell said. “He’d ask what we were working on, and he would say ‘Oh, Vadim [Naumov] has me do this and this. He would take in all that information … I’m going to really miss those conversations.”

Naumov, one of Spencer’s coaches in Boston, was also killed in the crash. Other victims from the Skating Club of Boston were Jinna Han, of Mansfield, Massachusetts, and her mother, Jin, and Spencer’s other coach, Evgenia Shishkova.

‘The biggest personality’

What everyone who knew Spencer said was that he was always a special person to be around.

“He was super nice,” Myers said. “Even though we’d run against each other in some competitions, he’d cheer for me, even though I was one of his opponents. He’d text me and wish me a Happy Birthday, and always congratulate me if I passed a test or something. He was always there for everyone.”

Many people outside of the rink knew Spencer’s personality as well. He had built up a major social media following, including tens of thousands of followers on Instagram following his skating journey.

After practices, Landy, Oneppo and Myers said that they would often see him uploading videos of his moves online, and would sometimes help him shoot the videos.

“At first, I was in denial,” Landy said. “And eventually it hit me, that Spencer, the funny kid I knew on the ice all the time, was gone… I miss him. It’s definitely not going to be the same here without him.”

McKenzie said that Spencer’s personality was what she would remember most about him.

“I’ll just remember him as having the biggest smile,” McKenzie said. “He was so hardworking and funny, and someone that truly loved the sport of skating."

In the week since the crash, the Warwick Figure Skaters community and those who know the Lanes have shared their memories about Spencer and Christine.

The community has gotten through the tragedy, Oneppo said, by leaning on each other.

“Within the figure skating community, everyone’s been so open about, if you need something, we’re here for each other,” Oneppo said. “He obviously had a great place in our hearts, and we all know what everyone’s going through.”

Now, Blackwell said, it’s up to them to honor Spencer and Christine and keep their memories alive.

“I don’t think Spencer would have wanted us to sit and be sad,” Blackwell said. “I think we do what he would have done – skate.”