Brad Irwin Kuchan

El Paso- Brad Kuchan, 63, of El Paso, formerly of Bloomington and Minonk, passed away at 6:17 PM on Wednesday January 29, 2020 at his residence.

Visitation will be held on Monday February 3, 2020 from 5-8 PM at Calvert-Johnson & Froelich Memorial Home in El Paso. Interment will be among his relatives at Neagle Cemetery in Thurlow, Green County, Kentucky.

Memorials may be given to Sons of Confederate Veterans, Columbia, Tennessee, The National Right To Work Legal Defense Foundation, Springfield, Virginia, or locally to BLNNEWS.

Brad was born in Normal on July 31, 1956, son of Carrie Mae (Irwin) Kuchan. He is survived by several elderly maternal cousins in Kentucky.

Brad was a 1974 graduate of Normal Community High School. He graduated from Ohio Northern University at Ada, Ohio in 1977 with a Bachelor of Arts with High Distinction, duel majors in Music and Business Administration/Finance. He also held a Masters in Music Education from Illinois State University, 1982.

Brad had a 30-year career as a high school music teacher and college band director, including 8 years at University High School and 4 years at Central Catholic High School. He was the founder of the Bloomington Central Catholic Highschool Marching Band. The balance of his teaching career was in Southern Illinois.

Brad is remembered as a great enthusiast for Studebaker cars and trucks, antique music instruments, and the compositions of German composer Max Bruch. He was known to both political friends and enemies alike as "Maggie", a tribute to the great British Prime Minister.

Brad saw himself as one of the "Last Soldiers of the Confederacy" and fought every day for its simple values of individual liberty, respect for private property, and opposition to an all too powerful Federal government. Confederate memorials and the Confederate Flag were sacred to him, and he worked hard for their preservation.