“As you know, our community and our senior class experienced a tragedy within the past few hours,” Endorf said. “The bittersweet emotions felt by the senior class on their graduation day, and throughout this entire gymnasium for that matter, cannot be concealed in this moment and are emblematic of the adult lives our graduates are about to begin. While our Haymaker pride is being tested at this moment, let’s all do our very best within the next hour to celebrate the 13 year journey that our graduates are completing today.”
The family said Koch’s mental health issues dated back to at least 2009 and included multiple suicide attempts. In 2015, the family began publicly sharing their struggles in an effort to reduce stigma and advocate for others. Bailey, an author and early contributor to the parenting website Her View From Home, launched her own Facebook page to raise awareness about mental illness and offer hope to others in similar situations.
Bailey wrote that her husband’s condition worsened significantly in 2024. On May 3, she said Koch had survived at least four suicide attempts. Continue reading…
