My father's wife, Donna Kalter, is a youthful 76 year old woman who is a graphic artist and a fine artist, and was a wonderful companion to my father for the last 34 years of his life. She called me this morning to tell me she is almost done scanning the pictures she has of my father and making prints for me. She knows how to do all that, even make the fuzzy ones sharper--she has all kinds of graphic equipment, lucky me.
She also wanted to tell me she had been Googling "George Kalter" (something it never occurred to me to do) and found a blog post called George Kalter's Hat, with a picture of the pith helmet he used to wear. Let us now sing praises to the beauty of the internet! A little piece of my father memorialized in a blog post by a stranger who never knew him. Thank you, Kelly Dauterman.
In this altered state, through these last months with my father and since his death, everything is meaningful. In that world, Kelly's last name is no coincidence.
This is too amazing. And how wonderful that the woman who got the pith helmet sort of "feels him."
ReplyDeleteHi Ruth,
ReplyDeleteI am so very sorry for your loss. But how lovely that you had him for so long. My own Father passed away when he was only 41 and I was 17.
I took a peek at your pictures of him, it's kind of funny...the Navy pic looks just about how I pictured him, with kind eyes and a sincere smile.
I responded to your Step Mother's e-mail and asked if she would like me to send her the hat. I would be happy to do so if either of you would like to have it.
The day I made the post, I certainly never expected to hear from anyone who knew him...I just always loved that old hat!
Kelly