Beverly Hogle

Beverly Kay (Koch) Hogle passed away peacefully at 4 pm on March 22, 2022, at the Theusen Cottages in Cedar Falls, Iowa in the arms of her son Mike. She had suffered a decline in health from vascular dementia and recently falling and breaking a hip after just celebrating her 83rd birthday on March 7th with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Born in Marshall County in 1939 to John Koch and Cora Ruth (Thomas) Koch, Beverly grew up as a tom boy on farms in Grundy County where her father expected her to do the work of a man, which, together with her older brother Duane, she did without complaint. She loved reading, sports and music from an early age, all of which played a major role in her life.

Beverly attended grade school in a one-room, country schoolhouse. While in Junior and High School she was active in softball and basketball. She learned to play the accordion and soon became the youngest instructor at Smith Music Co. in Marshalltown.  She graduated from Union-Whitten High School in 1957 and left to study Music and English at the Iowa State Teachers College (now UNI), as the first person in the family to attend college. She was a distinguished student, active in honors societies and in music ensembles. She played many different musical instruments but was particularly fond of the Baritone Horn. During her study she married and had one child Michael in 1961. This marriage later resulted in divorce.

After graduation she became a music teacher in the Beaman Conrad Liscomb school system. She married Keith Hogle and they later made their home in Eldora where she became the middle school English teacher. She had a daughter Teresa in 1965. She was widowed in 1974 at the age of 35 leaving her as the single mother of two young children.

Beverly remained a teacher in the Eldora (New Providence) School system teaching English and language arts until her retirement. She earned a master’s degree while working and also learned and later taught Spanish at the introductory level. She was a respected member of the negotiations committee. As a teacher, she was tough but fair and always made sure that students felt safe in her classroom and that everyone had an equal opportunity to learn. She was a very professional and highly respected teacher: well into retirement she was still constantly being approached by ex-students and parents who thanked and praised her for the important and positive role she had played in their lives.

Beverly was a loving and committed daughter, mother, aunt, and (great)grandmother. She was a loyal friend, a dedicated teacher and a respected colleague who took her various roles very seriously and lived in the service of others. She cared for her parents later in life and spent as much time as possible with and giving enormous support to her children and grandchildren over the years. She also enjoyed traveling. She visited her son in Amsterdam almost every year for 30 years and learned to understand and speak conversational Dutch.

She remained an active sportswoman almost her entire life, playing in softball teams and tennis doubles in her younger years. She was a member of two bowling teams for decades during the winter months, staying on longer than she physically could out of loyalty to her friends. But her real love was golf. During the summer she was often to be found outside on the golf course at her beloved Pine Lake Country Club and on courses around the state where she played in tournaments with her golfing partners. She taught the entire family to golf and coached her granddaughter Whitney to earn a full-ride golf team scholarship at the University of South Dakota. She was also adventurous and courageous, learning to downhill ski on vacations in Italy when in her 50’s, overcoming her lifelong fear of water and finally learning to swim when in her 60’s (all the way to lifesaver level!) and walking her first half marathon with her friends Sonjia and Norma at the age of 75.

In retirement she was one of the most active patrons of the Eldora Public Library, reading uncountable books sent to her from across the state. She participated actively in book & breakfast clubs, provided refreshments at funeral services at the Methodist Church and enjoyed the company and loving care of her dear friends, grandchildren and niece Linda. Unfortunately, as with her mother before her, progressive vascular dementia took its toll and finally began to make her world smaller and smaller. Her loving grandson Keith became her primary caretaker. She moved from her home of 54 years to Estabrook Lodge Assisted Living in Eldora in 2018 and to the Deery Suites / Theusen Cottages in Cedar Falls in 2020 at the beginning of the corona pandemic. This timing left her in a new place, cruelly isolated from friends and family for a year and a half but allowed her to win over the hearts of her caregivers with her kindness, intelligence and wit, despite her malady and rapidly declining health.

We will miss her dearly: her heart-felt affection, her zest for life-long learning and active living, her resilience and strength in the face of adversity, her modest, no-nonsense approach, her selfless and compassionate heart and her dry wit and wacky sense of humor. As she often reminded us in refrain at family gatherings: "Life is Good!" She led a life well lived.

Beverly is preceded in death by her husband Keith Hogle and his parents Harold & Cynthia Hogle, her parents John & Ruth Koch and her brother Duane (Lorraine) Koch. She is survived by son Michael Hogle (Amsterdam), daughter Teresa (Robin) Sosebee (Georgia), many nieces & nephews including Linda Trittien (Marshalltown), granddaughter Whitney Schrader (Cedar Rapids), grandson Keith (Crystal) Shrader and great-grandchildren Bodie and Colin (Cedar Falls).