Brent Koschtial

Yesterday, I was looking at facebook when I suddenly felt like I had been slapped in the face.  I read a post by someone and had to read it again.  And then a third time.  I thought for sure that I had read it wrong.  Sadly, I hadn't. 


Brent Koschtial had passed away.


For those of you reading this that are from Roscommon, you don't need me to tell you who Brent was. I can't say that I knew Brent very well, but I think it affects you when someone you know dies, even if you only knew them in passing.  If, at any point in your life, you had a conversation with that person, you feel it just a little bit more. (At least, that's how it is for me.)


Brent was a year younger than me, and that's another reason that it kind of makes you stop and think about it.  You immediately want to know how it happened.  You think back to the memories you have of the person and, depending on how well you knew them, you think of their family and what they must be going through.


Brent has an older brother and sister.  I graduated with Vanessa, and Dan was a couple years older than me.  Like I said, I didn't know Brent as well as a lot of people did, but several things I did know about him are that he was a good looking kid and he was extremely intelligent.  He was well liked and he had a quick wit.  We played varsity baseball together and Brent used to throw a knuckle-curve ball a lot in batting practice.  Brent was also his own guy.  He didn't get badgered into doing things he didn't want to do, and felt no pressure to do things for the sake of popularity.  This trait was shared by all three of the Koschtial kids.


One memory I have of Brent is that one day I wanted to go to one of the football games, but knew if I went home to St. Helen after school, I wasn't going to have any way to get back for the game.  I had decided that I'd just stay at the school and kill time until the game.  Brent invited me back to his house with him to have dinner before the game.  He lived really close to the school and we walked to his house and then walked back to the game later that evening.  It was a really nice thing of him to do and one that I've always remembered.


I'm sure that Vanessa and Dan would appreciate it if you shared any memories or stories that you have involving Brent.