I’ll be the first to admit, I didn’t know Rob Kalesse well. Certainly not like a family member. Or a longtime friend.
That said, I did know Rob Kalesse as a journalist. And as a journalist myself, I saw a lot in Rob that I admired. So, in the fall of 2013, when he offered his talents to Out & About Magazine as a contributing writer, I was flattered and elated. For the better part of the past decade, Rob Kalesse made this magazine better. For that, I am eternally grateful.
On January 24, Rob Kalesse passed after a battle with cancer. That wretched disease continues to humble us all.
But one of the benefits of being a journalist is that you leave samples of yourself behind—in your interviews, your stories, your videos…
Rob’s last piece for us was the December 2018 feature story he did announcing Scott Humphrey’s sound stage project, a possible gamechanger for Wilmington currently under construction on the Seventh Street Peninsula. Humphrey was gracious enough to let us break the story, a rare opportunity for a monthly magazine. It didn’t take us long to decide who would be best for the assignment. It was Rob.
So, I met with him over lunch at Capers & Lemons to plot our strategy. He took it from there: crafting the story and conducting the video interview that we posted on the Out & About website and shared with the community. Rob nailed it.
Little did I know then, it would be his last piece for the magazine. We both had plenty of assignments planned; however, Rob’s deteriorating health changed all that.
While composing this, I paused to re-read the article. Yep, he nailed it.
And courtesy of our good friends at Moonloop Photography, the image you’re seeing here was pulled from the video interview.
It all brings a smile to my face at a time when it’s not easy to smile. But that’s how I’m remembering Rob Kalesse.
To view more samples of Rob Kalesse’s writing for Out & About, click here.
