Heroic soldier Hoover laid to rest
Hundreds turned out for a tearful funeral for Bryan A. Hoover at Elizabeth Forward High School.
Hoover, 29, was a staff sergeant with the Pennsylvania Army National Guard who died June 11 while serving in Afghanistan. He was a 2000 graduate of the high school and was working there as an assistant track and cross country coach.
Family, friends, colleagues and students from the school district and scores of military men and women attended the funeral and subsequent burial service at Round Hill Cemetery on Tuesday. Many had fond memories of Hoover, who lived in the Boston section of Elizabeth Township.
"Bryan Hoover loved his country and he loved serving," said John Cray of Elizabeth Township, who spoke at the funeral. Cray said Hoover was a friend of his son when the boys were in their teens. He described Hoover as being competitive in sports, especially roller hockey, and possessing a loving heart.
"Bryan had dogged determination to achieve goals," Cray said. "I never heard him cuss or swear in the 15 years I knew him."
Roy Yarbrough, Hoover's academic mentor while he was earning his bachelor's degree in sports management at California University of Pennsylvania, said Hoover could have been a star in the corporate world of athletics, but chose a career path that kept him close to home and in service to the local community.
In addition to his work at the high school, Hoover was a volunteer at the Monongahela YMCA and with many youth sports programs.
Yarbrough said he asked Hoover, who was in the Marines prior to joining the National Guard, if he had a plan about what would happen if he didn't come back from his first deployment to Afghanistan. Hoover didn't have an answer on that first deployment, Yarbrough recalled, but on following deployments he did.
"He made Jesus Christ his savior," said Yarbrough, who said he took comfort knowing the soldier had taken Christ into his heart.
Hoover's helmet, boots and rifle were on display during the ceremony, near his flag-draped coffin.
He was on a foot patrol in the Bullard Bazaar in Zabul province of southeastern Afghanistan when a blast killed him and fellow guardsman Sgt. First Class Robert Fike of Conneautville, Crawford County. Also injured in the incident was Pfc. Anthony Spangler of Howard, Centre County. Civilians were killed in the blast.
Hoover's father, Melvin "Sam" Hoover, accepted a Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Combat Action Badge and Pennsylvania Meritorious Service Award on behalf of his late son during Tuesday's funeral.
Hoover is also survived by two brothers, a sister, his grandfather, stepmother and aunts, uncles and cousins.
Hoover planned to marry Ashley Tack of Lyndora, also a member of the state National Guard, in February.
Tack said after the funeral that Hoover remains "very, very loved."
"He is not just a hero to us now," Tack said. "He is a hero to the whole world."
Fellow guard members acted as pallbearers. The service at the cemetery included a 21-gun salute and Taps.
Hoover, who deployed in January, was saluted by athletes from the school district with a moment of silence at a PIAA state semifinal baseball game last week in Altoona.
Elizabeth Forward superintendent Bart Rocco said Hoover's passing brings the war on terror home to the district.
"He obviously had a tremendous impact on this community and the students that went here and the staff that worked with him," Rocco said. "He certainly will be missed."
