Edward “Ed” Kociela
Forever A Part Of Us
SAN FELIPE, Baja, Mexico/ST. GEORGE, Utah – Edward “Ed” Kociela left his mortal digs Sunday, May 8, 2023. Ed was born September 17th, 1951, to Edward M. Kociela and Rosalie A. Tucciarello, in St. Louis, Missouri.
Ed grew up in Overland, Missouri, through the age of 13 when his family moved to Fountain Valley, CA. After receiving his associate’s degree from Golden West College, he continued to study Journalism at Chapman University. Ed was an acclaimed expatriate writer and newspaperman whose work has bridged many aspects of the media world. As a newspaperman, he won numerous awards from the Associated Press and the Society of Professional Journalists. He was currently working as a freelance writer and weekly columnist.
His career included newspaper, magazine, and broadcast experience as a political commentator on underground FM radio, sportswriter, rock critic, news reporter, columnist, blogger, and essayist. Over the years, his work has been featured in a myriad publications ranging from the Los Angeles Times and Los Angeles Herald-Examiner to US magazine and GOAL!, the magazine of the National Hockey League.
He had also worked in entertainment media. His play, “Downwinders,” was one of only three presented for a series of readings by the Utah Shakespeare Festival’s “New American Playwright Series” in 2005. “Downwinders” is also available on Amazon.com. Ed has also written two screenplays.
His novels, “plygs” and “plygs2” are the culmination of his 16-year career as a journalist in St. George, Utah, located 45 minutes from the polygamist community along the Utah-Arizona state line upon which his novels are based.
His book, “It Rocked,” is about his days as a rock music critic at the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, with stories about some of the greatest names in rock ‘n’ roll–from George Harrison to Mick Jagger, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, Frank Zappa, Peter Frampton, Eric Clapton, and many others.
From 1995 to 2011, Ed worked as the City Editor at The Spectrum & Daily News in St. George, Utah, and Cedar City, Utah. It was there that he met the love of his life, Cara Curfew. They were married on March 21, 2009, in Snow Canyon State Park.
In spite of all of his accomplishments, Ed was a humble and kind man. At the Spectrum newspaper, he mentored many young writers, including Brian Passey, whom he affectionately called “Grasshopper”. His work day would usually start by walking into the office of his editor, Todd Seifert, putting his feet up on Todd’s desk, and saying, “What’s the haps?’
Ed was an incredibly gifted writer, and more than one person had remarked that his style was reminiscent of the late, great Hunter S. Thompson. Ed had a large collection of extremely entertaining stories, which he shared with his friends. One friend recounted an instance where Ed found himself babysitting Brian Wilson. Another friend told Ed’s story about how he once met Linda Rondstadt when she was playing in a bar before anyone had ever heard of her. She was playing with a band that later turned out to be the beginning of the Stone Ponies. Ed was fortunate to have interviewed Willie Nelson twice. On one of those occasions, they discussed life, philosophy, and music for hours. Ed said that he felt as though he was talking to a long-lost brother.
If you were Ed’s friend, you knew true friendship. Ed was honest, non-pretentious, and kind and he spoke the truth. He was an excellent listener and a natural caretaker. He genuinely cared about the well-being of his friends, and he would have none of those small-talk conversations. If you were talking to Ed, you would be talking soul to soul, and it would not be a short conversation.
At the time of his death, Ed was working as a freelance writer from his home on the Baja in Mexico. He wrote a weekly column for The Independent called ‘On the Edge”, which covered politics, national and world events, and the state of our society. He was also in the process of searching for the words to put together a couple of books that have sat dormant for far too long.
Ed liked to refer to himself as “an out-of-work guitar player”, but in fact, he had been playing guitar and singing lead in a band called “Uno Mas” at the time of his death. Ed could usually be found hand-in-hand with his beloved wife, Cara, his muse and trusted sounding board.
Ed is survived by his wife, Cara, his brother, Mark (Denise) Kociela, his son, Anthony Kociela, his daughter of the soul, step-daughter Mariah (Matthew) Green, mother-in-law, Maxine Curfew, daughter-in-law Veronica, his grandkids, Edward (Eddie), Kristopher (Crash) and Izabella, nephews Andrew Green and Mark Kociela, and niece Valerie Kociela – he is also survived by his close-knit Baja family, who referred to him as “the cool cat,” and his many friends and former co-workers in St. George and Cedar City, Utah.
He is preceded in death by his parents, and his first wife, Clarissa (Cris) Kociela.
Services will be held on the Baja; date to be determined.
