Ankeny Mourns Loss of Popular Teacher and Coach at Candlelight Vigil

A teacher touches so many lives.

Faculty and staff. Parents and students. An entire community.

The untimely death of Ankeny middle school teacher and coach Dennis Hoefle, 41, has sent a ripple of mourning throughout the Ankeny community.

Nearly 300 people packed Prairie Ridge Middle School at 7 p.m. on New Year’s Day for a candlelight vigil. They sought a way to cope with the death of the popular social studies teacher and Ankeny varsity tennis coach, who joined the school district in 1995. Hoefle died Thursday after having suffered a sudden brain aneurism on Wednesday.

People stood somberly, holding candles in the darkened gym. Pastor Scott Rains, of Ankeny’s Lutheran Church of Hope, told the crowd of mourners that “darkness cannot overcome the light.”

“His life was a life of impact and influence," Rains said.

Rains prayed for God to “shine a light of grace, love and mercy” onto the Ankeny community, which had also endured the death of a beloved crossing guard and high school student in 2011.

Vigil-goers left the gym and walked into the chilled night to a space along the fence near the tennis courts where Hoefle’s name was written in burgundy ribbons. Many adorned the ribbons to the fence, which read “Coach Hoefle.”

As Dylan Lanier, 20, one of Hoefle’s former students, left the tennis courts, he said Hoefle’s death was a shock.

“It was the worst way to end the year,” Lanier said. “It’s just too young of an age for him to be gone.”

Lanier said Hoefle made sixth-grade social studies fun and got him out of “slacking.”  

“He made it entertaining,” Lanier said. “It was just fun to be in his class. He got me to work harder.”

Rains said youngsters especially struggle with the death of a teacher. They have feelings of anger and sadness and other emotions and need adults to help them process their grief.

“When you’re young, you don’t have the sense of how quickly life goes by,” Rains said. “There’s something about the death of a teacher. … It raises significant questions.”

Rains said Hoefle was a member of his church, and Rains’ children had participated in tennis camps managed by Hoefle.

The vigil was simply a way for the community to begin to heal.

“We’re better together – even if we’re not able to say anything,” Rains said, of the quiet vigil. “There’s something good about being together in the midst of this.”

Counselors will be available to meet with students and staff when classes resume from winter break on Jan. 4.

• A visitation will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. Monday, Jan. 2, at the Lutheran Church of Hope in West Des Moines, 925 Jordan Creek Parkway.

• Funeral services for Hoefle will be held at 1 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 3, at the Lutheran Church of Hope in West Des Moines.

• Two memorial funds have been designated by the family to receive gifts and memorials. The Hoefle Family Memorial Fund has been set up to help support Hoefle's children and to pay for education, and Up With Down is an advocacy and support group for children with Down Syndrome.

• Memorials may be sent to: The Hoefle Family Memorial Fund South Story Bank, 501 Linn St., Slater, IA, 50244 or Up With Down, GiGi's Playhouse, 10430 New York Ave., Suite A Des Moines, IA, 50322.