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Family, friends remember Struthers grad
By EMMALEE C. TORISK
STRUTHERS
To Lou Morocco, Dean Macklen was a leader.
Granted, he was a quiet leader — the type of person whose actions spoke louder than his words — but a true leader nonetheless.
“He led by example,” said Morocco, varsity coach for Mooney-Ursuline’s ice hockey team. Four of his seven years coaching the team were spent with Macklen. “Whenever the chips were down, he was the one who stepped up and made a difference in every game. He was always, always positive.”
After nearly a yearlong battle with three cancers, Macklen died Tuesday at age 23.
Morocco remembers one playoff game in particular. It was close, and Macklen stepped up.
Within 15 seconds, Macklen had taken two face-offs — and had made two goals. It was a game-changing performance, and “the other team collapsed,” Morocco said.
That moment involving that “great kid” is one that Morocco won’t soon forget.
Macklen was a 2009 graduate of Struthers High School and was just beginning his senior year at Youngstown State University, where he majored in geography, when he was diagnosed in September 2013.
“What can you say about a kid who was full of life, lived it well and lived it fully in everything he did?” Morocco said.
Calling hours for Macklen were Friday at Cunningham-Becker Funeral Home on Main Street in Poland, and funeral services will take place today. The family requests contributions be sent to Hospice of the Valley Hospice House, 9803 Sharrott Road, Poland, OH 44514.
Among the unceasing flow of family and friends who paid their respects Friday were several of Macklen’s former teammates — many of whom had grown up playing hockey with him and had known him for more than a dozen years.
They brought with them a jersey Macklen would have worn this season, said David Graham of Boardman.
Another one of those teammates, Kristopher Johnson of Hubbard, was a driving force behind the “Hockey’s More Than Just A Game” event, which took place last month and was intended to show his and others’ support for the Macklen family.
Johnson remembers Macklen, though soft-spoken, having nothing but kind words to say when Johnson’s mother was diagnosed with cancer.
Landen Rust of New Springfield added that Macklen “definitely had a big heart,” while Bronson Lamoncha of Columbiana noted that he was “a good hockey player.” He also played for Boardman’s team, and later in a men’s pickup league.
He leaves his parents, Richard and Rebecca Macklen; his sister, Nicole Reeves Hernon; his brothers, Rich and Sam Macklen; and his girlfriend, Sarah Hart. He also leaves his nieces and his grandparents, among countless others.
Jami Madeline of Girard, a cousin, struggled to pick just one favorite memory involving Macklen, someone whom she described as “just a kind, kind soul.”
“He never had a bad thing or a mean thing to say to anyone,” Madeline said. “It’s just heartbreaking.”