Megan Hammerle, a DePauw University first-year,
passed away Feb. 13, 2015.
COURTESY OF AMY HAMMERLE
Megan Suzanne Hammerle, a DePauw first-year student with a love of music, anime and trick-or-treating, passed away the night of Feb. 13, 2015 at St. Vincent Hospital in Indanapolis. She was 18.
“Megan Hammerle passed away after an extended illness,” President Brian Casey wrote in email to DePauw community members Saturday morning. “Megan had been ill for the past several weeks and died last night. Her loss will be felt across our community.”
Hammerle was born June 16, 1996 in Indisanapolis. She graduated from Lebanon High School in 2014, and at DePauw was a member of the University Band and Trombone Ensemble, Gaming and Skeet Clubs as well as being a part of the Science Research Fellows program.
“She loved being a student [at DePauw], and she really enjoyed her music and all the friends that she’d made and the clubs she was in,” Hammerle’s mother, Amy Hammerle, said in a brief phone interview.
“DePauw was her dream school,” added friend and fellow first-year Miranda Dafoe, who has known Hammerle since sixth grade.
According to close friend and fellow Gaming Club member, first-year Caesar Tobar-Acosta, Hammerle was taken off life-support around 11:30 p.m. on Feb. 13. She had suffered a stroke on Jan. 9, and had been undergoing various tests for a firm diagnosis, since she had symptoms that “don’t usually go together—they called it ‘Megan syndrome’.”
“I found out about this the morning of Valentine’s Day,” said Tobar-Acosta. “I broke down several times. She was arguably one of my favorite people.”
Both Hammerle and Tobar-Acosta lived in College Street, and they met when Tobar-Acosta offered to show Hammerle around the all-boys second floor and introduce her to other College Street residents.
“We talked a lot about random stuff like comic books, anime, science: we had a bond,” Tobar-Acosta said.
Senior Quincy Abarr, president of the Gaming Club last semester, said that he found out about Hammerle’s passing when a fellow club member texted him asking about Hammerle’s favorite game—Sentinels of the Multiverse.
Abarr admitted that, though he was not as close to Hammerle as other members of the club, he would often give her rides and they would play informal games.
“She was fun to play with,” he said. “I always had good interactions with her.”
Tobar-Acosta agreed, adding that “I’ve quite honestly never seen Megan in a bad mood, but she could also get really competitive.”
He also referenced Sentinels of the Multiverse.
“When she played that game, she showed her ability to lead, but also to do whatever the hell she wanted to do,” Tobar-Acosta said, and then added, “her intellect truly had no bounds: gamer scientist, comics, music, cross country—she hit every facet full force with passionate enthusiasm.”
“She really is her own person,” said Dafoe, specifically reflecting on this past October, when she and Hammerle shopped for Halloween costumes together. When Dafoe asked if Hammerle would like to go to a fraternity party with her, Hammerle deferred, saying she had plans to trick or treat.
“She was an amazing, beautiful, inspiring person to be around,” Dafoe said. “What she did in her short time here was enough to impact us for the rest of our lives.”
Adjunct music professor James Beckel, who had trombone lessons with Hammerle, said that this semester’s trombone concert will be dedicated to her memory.
“It was wonderful to watch her make friends while she was here,” Beckel said. “She was a brilliant student.”
“We’re just overwhelmed,” Amy Hammerle said. “We had no idea that she had touched so many lives, so that’s really wonderful.”
Hammerle is immediately survived by her parents, Rick and Amy, her brother Connor and sister Sara, as well as numerous extended family members.
The wake will be held Wednesday, Feb. 18 from 2:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the Strawmyer & Drury Mortuary 2400 N. Lebanon Street, Lebanon. Hammerle’s celebration of life service will be officiated by the Rev. Scott March on Thursday, Feb. 19 at 11:00 a.m. at Trinity Lutheran Church 2625 Elm Swamp Road, Lebanon.
There will also be a memorial service held at Gobin Methodist Church beginning at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 19. It will be a time to share memories and anecdotes, and Dafoe asks that those who attend wear their favorite color.
The family asks that those wishing to show their support and celebrate Hammerle’s life would make memorial contributions to the Megan Suzanne Hammerle Memorial Scholarship Fund c/o PNC Bank, Lebanon.