Stephen Conrad, in the pink top, loved golf and loved playing with his brothers Michael (striped top) and Jeffrey (Hawaiian top) along with family friend Brady McKibben. Stephen passed away Christmas day in a car accident, one of four deaths that rocked the Wawasee community over the past week. (File photo by Mike Deak)

SYRACUSE – The brilliant comedian and political satirist John Oliver put his stamp on 2016 not too long ago with his tribute video that left little to the imagination. It was crude, it was blunt and directly to the point – 2016 hasn’t been one for the books, to be perfectly and brutally honest.

OK, well the Cubs did win the World Series, so we can start with that to which at least all is not lost. However, Christmas, with its own agendas, is a time of year that for at least a few days, we should be able to leave the burdens, the stress, the reality and the hardships on the back doorstep. Maybe for a couple hours, maybe until we go back to work. As the holiday week, which for many school communities around the area, started somewhere in the week of the 19th of December, would start with heavy hearts as Anna Barnard – a foreign exchange student at Bethany Christian – died in a car crash in Granger. Barnard had ties to many school communities as she was a popular girl with athletic ambitions, a current member of the Bruins girls basketball team and a standout in soccer with hopes of a soccer scholarship. Barnard had ties to several athletes at Wawasee, notably in the swim program, to which had been vocal in their sorrow in social media mentions throughout the week as the Waterford Mills community grieved.

Jeff Rostochak, back right, loved coaching his daughters. Here he’s on staff for the North Webster Cardinals in 2009 with his daughter, Kylee, along with several future Wawasee High School athletes. (File photo by Mike Deak)

Wawasee, however, would have to chew on much bigger losses as Christmas week wore on. Wednesday, Dec. 21, Jeff Rostochak was found dead in his home, suffering what was deemed a massive heart attack. Jeff was widely known in the Wawasee community for his involvement in seemingly everything athletics, whether he was coaching youth league or high school golf teams, or his latest role as middle school basketball coach at Milford. Jeff was a very fluid and active supporter of his four daughters, who have been and currently are all successful in sports at Wawasee and beyond.

Always with an opinion, but always with good intentions, Jeff wanted the best for Mattia, Kylee, Kabrea and Jadison. Often times, he went out of his way to try to provide it. He took turns being hands on, coaching youth league softball in North Webster and golf at Wawasee High School and stayed behind the fence on other occasions, sitting in silent observation as Kabrea played tennis. Having recently retired as a Warsaw firefighter, Jeff had given his life to service. His wife, Molly, was and will continue to be just as active following the girls around.

As the sudden shock of Jeff’s passing was making the rounds, the lightning bolt announcement Christmas evening that Kim and Stephen Conrad had died in a car accident at the infamous ‘crazy corners’ in Syracuse was almost too much to take.

Everyone, literally, everyone has a story about Kim Conrad. Interactions, work experiences, life experiences, laughs, crying sessions, phone calls that last two hours past expectancy. The stories people can share, and have shared this week, rival that of celebrities passing. And if Syracuse has a certifiable celebrity status, Kim is a local celebrity.

Kim Conrad, back left, was passionate about coaching and leading, which included stints as cheerleading coach for Wawasee High School. (File photo by Mike Deak)

To say Kim was just a teacher would do a disservice to the thousands of children she taught, but would lessen her role as a coach. To say she was a cheerleading and gymnastics coach would short change her abilities as a real estate agent. To point to Kim Conrad on a Coldwell Banker sign as her identity would leave behind the often unnoticed job as a gymnastics judge, one of the few dinosaurs still active in a sport that is losing quality officials. Kim wore several hats. She most proudly wore the hat of mother and wife, of best friend (to hundreds) and just friend (to thousands). She was so many things to so many people. And she didn’t do anything without passion. She had a smile on her face, even when she didn’t have to.

Kim was pronounced dead after a head-on collision Sunday night that also took the life of her oldest son, Stephen, and leaving her husband, Steve, to recover in a Fort Wayne hospital. The two young men in the other car, Micky Hisey and Brody Jordan, are fighting their own battles of recovery. Their roads will be long as questions will have to be answered in the coming days and weeks.

Stephen was carving out his own legacy as one helluva golfer. Serving as a staff member at Anthem Golf Club in suburban Phoenix, Ariz., Stephen was living the life he wanted. He was a golfer first and foremost, and that’s what just about everyone associated him with. Already in the Indiana Golf Hall of Fame, an honor Stephen earned in 2015, Kim had actually contacted us that day, bragging on her son as she had done so many times. He was an Indiana Amateur and Indiana Open champion, and had just competed in the state Open tournament this past summer.

It wouldn’t be a local golf tournament, a fundraiser or a scramble unless Stephen and some combination of his brothers – Michael and Jeffrey, the McKibben brothers, or the Beasley brothers were playing together. And usually winning. Or placing second, then winning the next tournament two days later at another local course. Stephen was just as friendly as Kim was, someone who hadn’t let his minor celebrity get to his head. He had time for people back home, and loved coming back home to see those who loved him. He also was loving his adopted Arizona turf, often posting photos of some golf course with his arms waving a club looking across a cactus-lined fairway.

So, 2016 has kind of sucked. From afar, we’ve seen some of the icons pass away. The great ones – Muhammad Ali, Prince, David Bowie, Gene Wilder, Arnold Palmer and Florence Henderson all moved onto greener pastures. Heck, in December alone we lost Alan Thicke, George Michael and even Tuesday it was announced that Princess Leia herself, Carrie Fisher, passed away.

There is a loose irony that in a year where we lost iconic parenting figures in TV dad Mike Seaver and uber-mom Carol Brady that one of Wawasee’s busiest dads, Jeff Rostochak, and the beloved Kim Conrad would leave us. And Lord knows that Arnold Palmer and Stephen Conrad likely have some stories to share on God’s 19th hole.

To quote one of the hundreds of posts to Kim’s Facebook page, Joseph Candice Salvo may have said it best.

“When a Hero dies a star is born. The Heavens will Forever Shine a little Brighter.”