West Bend, Wi – For most of his life, West Bend, Wi, resident and business owner Andy Koehn carried the story quietly. It was a family grim tragedy so shocking many people didn’t believe it when he shared it. A devastating 1972 bombing aboard a flight in Thailand claimed the lives of his aunt, uncle and cousins from the Kenny family, sending shockwaves through West Bend and leaving a lasting mark on generations of relatives.
Now, more than 50 years later, Koehn is telling that story through a podcast series that blends heartbreaking history with cherished memories of summers on Big Cedar Lake.
“What sparked it was, I’ve known about this my whole life,” said Koehn. “I would talk to my kids here and there about it.”
The project began, not with a desire to create a podcast, but with a conversation in his kitchen. Three months ago, Koehn’s oldest daughter, Olivia, encouraged him to document the family story so future generations would know the history.
“She said, ‘Dad, you should write that down, what happened, because we don’t know the details,'” Koehn said.
As he began writing, Koehn found himself speaking the words aloud.
“I thought, ‘This is a story I could tell because I do other podcasting. I could tell this on a podcast.’ That’s how I started.”
The response has been overwhelmingly positive, particularly from family members.
The person whose opinion mattered most was Koehn’s uncle, the last surviving Kenny of that generation. Before beginning the project, Koehn reached out for permission.
“I’ve been meaning to tell this story,” he told his uncle.
The answer came back quickly.
“Absolutely, have at it.”
Since then, Koehn said his uncle has repeatedly reassured him.
“He said, ‘You’re doing a great job.’ To hear him say, ‘I’m glad you’re telling the story,’ was really kind of cool.”
While the series centers on one of the darkest chapters in family history, Koehn intentionally avoided presenting it as a straightforward retelling of the bombing.
Instead, listeners are first introduced to summers on Big Cedar Lake, the Kenny family gatherings, and the hazy memories of childhood.
“I wanted them to get to know the family,” he said. “My strongest memories of childhood were around that property.”
“Most of us tell stories in chronological order,” he said. “But to tell a great story, one that’s intriguing and one that people won’t get bored with, I like to find a little something to start it off with that isn’t at the beginning.”
Researching events that happened more than five decades ago proved challenging, but not impossible.
Koehn relied on newspaper accounts, historical articles, family recollections and even archival video footage.
“I’m surprised at the number of YouTube videos out there about the actual crash,” he said. “I found one bit of footage that was actual post-crash site footage.
Click HERE to read an Associated Press article about the crash
Along the way, he discovered many of his own memories were really stories passed down through family conversations.
“I come to realize most of those memories are what I was told growing up,” he said.
One of the biggest surprises has been learning how many people in West Bend still remember the Kenny family.
“The number of people who are in West Bend now that knew them and went to school with them, that surprised me,” he said.
Even more unexpected has been the emotional reaction from listeners.
“They start sharing. ‘I remember where I was that day.'”
Many have described the tragedy as a defining moment in local history.
“I had one cousin say this was like our 9-11,” said Koehn. “Another person wrote, ‘This was like John Kennedy getting assassinated.'”
Others have shared vivid memories that remain frozen in time.
“One guy said, ‘That song, Take It Easy, was playing that summer. Every time I hear it, my mind goes right back to that.'”
For Koehn, hearing those stories has reinforced how deeply the event affected the community.
“People care,” he said. “After all this time, people care.”
Now 60 years old, Koehn admitted the project has affected him more deeply than he anticipated.
“It’s less gratifying than I thought because I feel sad sometimes and I think about it almost too much,” he said. “It’s weird to have it on your mind almost 24-7.”
Yet he remains committed to finishing the series, estimating there are likely three or four episodes still to come.
Despite the encouragement from family members and listeners, Koehn continues to wrestle with the responsibility of telling such a painful story.
“I don’t want to disrespect the memories of that family by what I’m doing,” he said. “I don’t want to be a circus. I don’t want to be that opportunistic person.”
Still, he believes the story deserves to be preserved.
“Everyone has said, including my uncle, ‘Don’t feel that way. Just do it.'”
In the end, Koehn’s podcast has become more than a true-crime story. It is a record of family, community and memory, capturing both the joy of childhood summers on Big Cedar Lake and the grief that forever changed a family and a town.
On a side note:
-Andrew Pick, 20, was also traveling with the Kenny family on the three-week vacation in the Far East. The flight crashed as the group was on their way home. They had boarded the plane in Singapore.
The Kenny family is buried in Holy Angels Cemetery on Decorah Road and S. Main Street in West Bend, WI. There is a large monument stone in Section I. It sits between a veteran Oak tree and west of a towering red Maple. In the shadow of the monument are 6 brass markers, weathered to a greenish-blue. All markers carry the same day of death, June 15, 1972.
-The 1975 West Bend High School yearbook carries a brief tribute to Mary Kenny.
– As part of the podcast project, Koehn is collecting comments and memories from people who remember hearing the news about the death of six members of the Kenny family.
School photos courtesy West Bend High School yearbook.
What an amazing tribute to the family! Well done Andy Koehn. We won’t forget.