A beloved school administrator, educator, community member, friend and family member was honored and remembered on Saturday 

The funeral for Dan Marbuger was held at Lutheran Church of Hope in West Des Moines. He passed away ten days after he fought against the injuries he had during the tragic events of January 4th at Perry High School. Dan’s daughter Claire told several family anecdotes of the humorous side of her dad, as well as some of the life lessons she learned from him.

“The biggest lessons I take from dad are presence matters, if someone is important to you or something is important to you, you show up. You prove it by being there, you do everything you can to be there for that person. Dad also taught us grace even in complicated, difficult situations. You cannot know the situation of another, but you can control how you respond. You can either be a reason they look up and forward to what is to come, or keep their heads down and keep themselves prisoners to their past, their mistakes, and their missed opportunities. One of the greatest lessons Dad taught us and showed us every single day, and that we get to practice everyday, is how to love. We watched how dad really, really loved mom and taught us how to love one another the correct way.” 

Dan had been the Perry High School Principal since 1997 and he was heralded as a hero for putting himself in harm’s way to protect students from the shooting on the morning of January 4th. Memorial contributions can be directed to the family as a future scholarship fund in Dan’s honor.