A Special Tribute to Sgt. Maj. Brad Conner, 1984 Graduate of KHS
Early this Wednesday morning, May 9th, Cyndi Conner, wife of Sgt. Maj. Bradley D. Conner, received a visit from the Army Chaplain that her husband of 18 yrs and father of their three beautiful children had been killed in the line of duty in Iraq. This was his fifth tour in Iraq where he served in the Army Special Forces, Green Beret, as a 20 year veteran. The vehicle that he and others were riding in was blown up when it ran over a mine. The others sustained serious injury, leaving Brad as the lone fatality.
Brad is a proud graduate of Kellogg High School, class of 1984. It seems appropriate for me to especially honor Brad as he was in the first class of athletes that I coached in the fall of 1983 after moving to Kellogg. Simply put, he was just a fantastic young man who had no enemies, and many, many friends. He was at the top of his ROTC class, involved in drama, was one of “Auntie Joy’s” most memorable choir students, participated successfully in sports, and was heavily involved in church youth activities (his father, Bill, was a pastor of a small church in Wardner). He was one of those students that just naturally becomes a friend upon leaving school. I will miss him.
This serves as a reminder to me that we have a number of other KHS graduates who are still so bravely and nobly serving our country during this time of war; one being Major Groves’ own son. Let’s keep them all in our prayers and thoughts that they will remain safe and protected while serving.
As Brad’s brother-in-law put it so well in his informational e-mail, “Despite our differences and shortcomings as a nation, we are still the land of the free........because of the brave.”
Written by Ralph Lowe, KHS Principal
