Dane Vogel, a 2003 Oakville Senior High School graduate, was the rare student who always sat in the front row and usually arrived five minutes before his classes began at the University of Colorado- Colorado Springs.
Vogel’s empty seat in mid-March was a clue to his instructors in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies that something was amiss.
Their fears were later realized when Vogel, 27, died March 20 as a result of complications from the disease he had battled since age 4 — diabetes.
The memorial service in Oakville drew 2,000 mourners anxious to show their respect. UCCS showed Vogel its respect Saturday, May 18, during the 2012 Spring Commencement, awarding him the bachelor of arts in geography and environmental studies degree posthumously.
“Dane was enthusiastic about learning and life,” Curtis Holder, associate professor, Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, stated in a university news release.
The GES faculty led Vogel on field trips that included hikes in the Colorado mountains, as well as to the forests of Guatemala.
Vogel made many friends, but closely guarded his condition and insulin injections. Few knew he battled the life-threatening disease. Friends from his geography program who went on trips with Vogel did not even know he was diabetic. He never used the disease as a crutch. He just did what he needed to do.
“His diabetes could have been a lot harder on his mother and me, but he made it easy on us,” Tim Vogel, Dane’s father, stated in the release. “He had such a quiet strength about him. He never let it get him down. In fact, he lived life even larger in spite of it.”
Dane Vogel exercised regularly, was a certified lifeguard, held certifications in scuba and advanced scuba diving and even tried skydiving. On a university-sponsored trip to Silverton, Colo., he made a snow shelter and spent the night outside though the temperature inside the shelter hovered near 10 degrees. That was typical Dane, his father said, who loved the outdoors and was known to go backpacking for a week to 10 days at a time.
The love of the outdoors drew Vogel to Colorado after working in St. Louis and completing a two-year degree at a local community college there. The draw of the mountains, his father said, was irresistible when combined with an interest in geography, geology and the world around him.
“The actions the university is taking mean so much to his mother and I,” Tim Vogel stated. “It was Dane’s dream to earn a geography degree from UCCS. We know how hard he worked.”
Vogel came one month shy of his dream, but it was a unanimous decision among all his professors that he would graduate.
Vogel also worked at the university as an assistant to biology professor Brent Wal-lace. Wallace stated he would hear Vogel laughing down the hall with his hearty, one-of-a-kind laugh, and it would make him laugh, too.
“In his 27 years, Dane lived his life to the fullest. Dane was kind and humble. He was a best friend to his brothers, his friends and his Mom and me. He was our hero,” Tim Vogel stated.