Body Recovered From Lake Buchanan Identified

EAST AUSTIN, TX -- The man whose body was recovered Sunday by Texas game wardens at Lake Buchanan was a young math and science teacher at Austin Discovery School in East Austin.

Sheri Guess, chief operations office with the school, confirmed the man was Julian Dahmen, a match and science teacher at the charter school at 8509 FM 969.

“Sadly, we are able to confirm that we lost our friend and colleague yesterday,” Guess was quoted as saying in the Austin American-Statesman on Sunday.

“Julian was a gifted mentor to our students, a brilliant teacher in the classroom, and a steadfast member of our community,” Guess said. “He will be deeply missed by his students, his co-workers and the entire ADS community.”

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department game wardens recovered the body of the 30-year-old teacher Sunday morning. He had been kayaking in Lake Buchanan Saturday evening amid windy conditions.

In an earlier report, the Statesman said wind-produced choppy waters caused the kayak Dahmen was in to got swamped over. The kayak an unidentified female companion was using also was overcome with water but she was able to make it to shore.

The two were headed to an island about a half-mile away where they had planned to camp. Lake Buchanan is in Burnet county, nearly 70 miles west of Austin.

Game wardens said Dahmen was wearing a life vest at the time of his death.

Monday classes were cancelled as teachers and students grieve for the teacher, according to a notice on the school’s website.

“Austin Discovery School will be closed tomorrow to support our staff through this challenging time,” the notice reads. School officials added classes would resume Tuesday.

On the portion of the website featuring staff, there is no bio available for Dahmen as is for other teachers. Only a photo of him appears.

ADS is a charter school opened in 2005 that serves 490 students in grades K-7, according to its website.