'Meant To Be A Teacher': Daughter Honors Dad Who Took Own Life, Urges Mental Heath Care

TINLEY PARK, IL — A woman grappling with her grief after her father took his own life is honoring his memory by advocating for mental health awareness and suicide prevention.

Lauryn Fogt is the daughter of Timothy Fogt, a beloved Romeoville teacher who died by suicide early Sunday. Fogt, 50, had been reported missing after leaving his summer job as security at Credit Union 1 Amphitheatre in Tinley Park. He was later found dead after being struck by a semi on I-80 not far from the venue.

Fogt had called his daughter after leaving the venue—the last time she would speak to him. She knew immediately that something was not right.

"He didn't say hello," Lauryn told Patch. He said he planned to harm himself, and told her to make amends with estranged family so they could support each other in his death.

His words sent Lauryn reeling, and she worried that she hadn't done enough days earlier when he had called in a similar mindset. Thursday, June 5, she was awoken by a call just after midnight; he was having suicidal ideations, she said. The two talked for nearly two hours, and she said the call ended with Fogt promising he would not harm himself that night.

It shook Lauryn deeply.

"Me and my dad never said I love you, it was always 'love ya, bro,'" she said. "That was the first time I said, 'Dad, I love you.'"

The days that followed, Fogt's mental state had seemed to improve, even with hours spent playing Connect Four with his 4-year-old daughter. His joy in fatherhood was profound, Lauryn said.

"His favorite thing in life was being a dad," she said. "There’s just certain people in this world that are meant to be parents, and he was one of them."

He seemed ashamed that he had expressed such desperation, but she reminded him: "When you need me, call me."

The morning of June 7 she spoke with him again as she went to work; he reassured her that he was doing well. Late that night, something seemed to have shifted in him, she said. He left the concert venue and was "just wandering," he told her. He again alluded to suicidal thoughts, and she urged him, "Dad, just come home."

He hung up the phone, and discarded it to obscure his location, Lauryn said. She called police, and waited. Police deployed drones and K9 officers to search for him. As hours passed, Lauryn didn't sleep. She opened her apartment curtains—something she rarely did—hoping to see him walking toward her.

"I just knew, he’s going to get hit by a car," she said. "Everybody kept telling me, 'he’s wandering on foot, he’s hiding somewhere.' I wanted to believe that, but I knew he was already gone."

Early Sunday, police also issued a missing person alert in hopes of finding Fogt. Lauryn learned around 11:30 a.m. Sunday that he had been found deceased on a highway median. Information was initially limited, leaving her and others confused and speculating about the circumstances. She would later learn he had intentionally stepped into traffic around midnight Sunday, she said.

"My first thought was, that truck driver isn’t going to forgive themselves," she said. "I just hope to God that person doesn’t hold any guilt, or think it was their fault."

If Lauryn's reflections seems blunt, it could be because this isn't her first encounter with loss by suicide. At 18, she was married, and at 19, her husband took his own life. Her dad, she said, was her comfort and strength throughout her grief. He was her best friend.

Friends have rallied around Lauryn. Pam Swearingen, who knew Fogt for 14 years, created a GoFundMe to support the family and help fund funeral services.

"People are devastated," Swearingen said. "It’s hard."

Swearingen's children were among those impacted by Fogt's teaching at Kenneth Hermansen Elementary School in Valley View Community Unit School District 365U in Romeoville.

"My daughter had him, and she was a quiet kid," Swearingen said. "Real shy. She got him, and he completely changed her. He just inspired so many kids."

Her daughter—now an adult—went on to write a college essay about how he inspired her.

"This man changed her life," Swearingen said. "He was kind. He made everybody feel important, and that they were enough."

Having initially pursued a degree in criminal justice, Fogt later said he felt called to become a teacher, and went back for appropriate schooling. He started at the school in 2001. The school's PTO shared a statement after his passing.

"His funny, kind, and friendly presence will be missed by all who were lucky to know him," they wrote. "We are grateful for the memories with him and the impact he had on his students and the KLH community."

Teaching was such a natural fit for him, Lauryn said.

"Immediately, he was meant to be a teacher," Lauryn said. "Kids that weren’t even in his class, would come up to him and talk to him and hug him. He started my love for science, he started my love for animals. Every year he would host the science fair, and he would bring in reptiles, because he hated that people had misconceptions about them.

"...I’m a vet technician now, and the whole reason I did that, was how much he taught me to love helping animals. Everything about me, is because of him."

Lauryn feels guilt over the days leading up to her father's death. Though never diagnosed, Fogt had previously spoken about bouts with depression.

"Guilt that I didn’t see the signs sooner, so much guilt that I didn’t call police on Thursday," she said.

She hopes that his story will compel people—and men—to speak up about their struggles, and get the help they need. The Center for Disease Control reports that men account for nearly 80 percent of suicide deaths. In 2023, men died by suicide 3.8 times more than women, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention adds.

Visitation for Vogt will be held at McCauley-Sullivan Funeral Home in Bolingbrook on June 29 from noon to 4 p.m., according to his obituary.

In lieu of flowers, Lauryn encourages donations in his name to an animal shelter or suicide relief organizations.

A free, 24/7, confidential service can provide people in suicidal crisis or emotional distress or those around them with support, information, and local resources. Call the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988.