Thad Certainly Embodies an "Active" Alumnus

During high school and as a DePaul undergrad, Thad Kochanny '53 worked at McMaster-Carr Supply Co, a job Brother John "C" [Chrysostom] got for him. Next, he served three years in the Army Security Agency in Massachusetts. Thad worked in a Signal Corps school there and lost his hearing. Upon his discharge in 1961, he started an 18-year career with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Regulatory Enforcement Division. At the same time, he entered the "190 MBA program" at the University Of Chicago Graduate School Of Business, graduating in 1966 with an MBA in Finance.

Working for the ATF, Thad had a wide variety of duties including determining/collecting liquor and tobacco taxes, and inspecting industrial plants, hospitals and liquor businesses for regulatory compliance. Always an innovator, Thad helped create the first book of state and local gun laws on commerce in firearms, to be used by gun dealers. He helped form the first ATF union for office workers, a "local" of the National Treasury Employees Union. Thad was employed with ATF for 18 years.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation hired Thad as a bank examiner. He worked there for 10 years until retiring at age 55. Thad visited banks to look at their operation, management and asset quality (loans they made). When Thad retired he was President of National Treasury Employees Union Chapter 242. This was the FIRST federal bank examiners union. Subsequently, the Chapter 242 contract was the model for organizing all other FDIC, Comptroller of the Currency and Federal Reserve Bank examiners.

In retirement Thad discovered player pianos. He currently has two pianos and more than 1,500 music rolls. He belongs to Automatic Musical Instrument Collectors Association (AMICA), and has contributed pieces on the evolution of music boxes and player pianos to their web site. A major editing task was the Ampico Piano Roll Catalog. That expanded 189 paper pages into over 600 online pages. This was a "first" that gave AMICA members international access to this unique roll catalog reference.

This year (2017) Thad was appointed a member of the Selective Service System's Lake County, IL. Draft board. Currently inactive, when it is activated, volunteer, unpaid members hear deferment cases and initial requests for action.

Looking back, Thad's fondest memory while attending Saint Patrick Academy was the experience of growing up with boys from different walks of life. "We were blue collar kids from low income homes, middle class suburbanites, and boys from 'The Home,' an orphanage just west of Des Plaines and Adams. We were only about 450 students but a fair economic cross section. Christian Brothers worked with us to make us succeed. 'Sink or Swim' was never a teaching method then."

Thad wants today's students to have an improving toolbox of skills, the same Catholic values and confidence he received. His high school education allowed him to go on to college, graduate school and success in both his work and personal life.

Thad recognizes today's needs and says, "Despite everyone's best effort, our alumni are by and large, still sitting on our wallets. I don't want to sit on mine any longer! I find that the more I give away, the more I have to give away." Thad feels that the more one has, the greater one's obligation to share it.

Thad feels that the greatest challenge St. Pat's faces is our alumni's lack of support for the school. "Seems that after we graduate, we scatter, never to look back until 25 or 50 years have passed. Older alumni should consider that one or two thousand dollars annually for student tuition support is less than car insurance, a lot less than real estate taxes, and less than 1/6 the annual cost for a single student. We need to become aware of the precious, financially fragile nature of what today's Saint Patrick students receive and the diminishing ability of many families to pay for all of it. It's really a challenge for the alumni. Alumni participation needs to be substantially increased if Saint Patrick High School is to have a long-term future. The few who now participate just aren't enough."

Thad certainly embodies an "active" alumnus. He's attended concerts, plays, Academy luncheons and reunions, even a circus at the theatre, and has generously supported our financial assistance program. "There's a lot of talent, great entertainment and the chance to experience today's Saint Patrick. It's a 120-mile round trip from Ingleside, but well worth it to me. The downside is seeing too many empty seats at many events. The students and teachers create excellent productions and, for whatever reason, they don't play to packed houses of alumni. Some are too busy to have fun. Others may have good reasons for not supporting the shows. For me, it's great entertainment on a budget. I hope many more will avail themselves of offerings targeted to alumni and come to the same conclusion."