September 10, 2024

By Lane Kimble

EPWORTH, Iowa — Ty Kronlage loved being outdoors, was popular with his friends and colleagues, and was committed to his job as an operator with Top Grade Excavating; following in his father’s footsteps to join the construction industry.

So it was surprising when he didn’t show up for work one morning last fall.

“Still didn’t have the inkling at all that anything was really, really wrong until they walked in the door.  And then I knew something was wrong… It just was like, ‘No, not him,'” Ty’s mom Jodi recalls.

October 6, 2023, Ty Kronlage got his gun out of a safe, drove to a nearby quarry, and took his own life.

He was 21.

“You can’t make any sense in your head.  You can never put those together, the why,” Russell Kronlage said of his son.  “I’m trying like a detective to get to the bottom of it since.  Did you know?  Did you know?  Girlfriend, friends?  No indication.  He was the one laughing all the time.”

Now, the Kronlage family hopes sharing the pain and anguish they’re going through with Ty helps people who are struggling get the help they need, preventing other families from going through the same thing.

It’s a challenge those in the construction industry know far too well.

Some of the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows construction workers’ suicide rate is nearly double (56 per 100,000) that of all professions.

The rate is even higher for specific construction fields, such as equipment operators (58.6 per 100,000) and laborers (91 per 10,000).

“Talk about it.  Because the alternative is way worse.  It leaves a lot of carnage and a lot of people hurting for, probably forever,” Russell said.

WTBA is incredibly grateful to the Kronlage family for being willing and open to speaking publicly and helping produce the video above.  Their poise through immense pain while maintaining hope for the future is inspiring.

If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, there are resources available to help 24/7.  You can call or text 988 any time.  Further information is available here.