IN LOVING MEMORY

Ronald Kale

Ronald Kale

 

Obituary

On March 7th, 2020, Ronald Franklin Kale, father of five children, was called home to be with the Lord. He was born on September 4th, 1955 in Winston-Salem, NC.  He graduated from East Forsyth High School in 1973 and went on to join the United States Navy.  

Ron took fashion cues from no one. His signature look was a t-shirt designed by Fruit of the Loom, Wrangler jeans, and a pair of old-school Rainbows. He used to wear socks with his flip-flops, but we wore him down until he stopped. As it turns out, he lived in Japan as a child where this was a customary practice. We just assumed that he was the ultimate “socks with flip-flops” dad.

He was always the funniest person in the room, sometimes unknowingly. He was the king of dad jokes and provided many accidentally humorous philosophies. Our family favorite is still “When the car starts, get in the car. When the car stops, get out of the car.”. With 5 children, sometimes it just needed to be that simple.

He had an insatiable sweet tooth and loved Haagen-Dazs vanilla bean ice-cream. None of us were surprised to see the Haagen-Dazs phone number saved as a contact in cell phone. When he enjoyed something or someone provided good service, he was the first to let them know. He thought that positive feedback should be provided more often than the negative. He also loved Le Bleu bottled water, Cheez-Its and gummy bears from Colorado.

Our Dad always provided us real world experiences. He taught us to drive on our mile-long, gravel driveway, he had us help balance his checkbook and he taught us how to change a tire. Before the invention of GPS, he would always have one of us kids ask for directions. In our later years, we realized that he was teaching us how to take care of ourselves.   

Our Dad was the hardest working man. There was no such thing as too many hours to get the job done right, too far of a commute or too much elbow grease. He retired from US Airways after a 25-year career as an aviation electrician.

While hard work was ingrained in him; and from him to us, our Dad taught us how important it was to love, show love, have compassion and be quick to forgive. He told us to look for the best in people and that no one is better than another person. He was the shining example of compassion and charity, always helping people in need and never judging them based on their circumstances. And despite the importance of hard work and getting a job done right, he was always home on time for dinner.

Next to his children, Ron loved writing, playing and singing his own music. He was a singer-song writer and self-taught guitar and bass player. He wrote and recorded his own music throughout his life. Our house was always filled with the sounds of a guitar, notebooks where he wrote his songs and cassette tapes of his music. So many cassette tapes. He used his talents to help others and during his later years played gigs at the rescue mission. 

Above all else our Dad, Ron considered his family his greatest success. He was preceded in death by his parents Bernie Franklin and Alice Ann Kale of Winston-Salem, NC. He is survived by his daughter Dawn “Deebird” (Arturo and grandson Lando) of Mexico, his daughter Karamy “Nay-Nay” (Daniel and granddaughters Natalie and Hazel) of Winston-Salem, NC, his son Kip “Shippy Shi-Lando” (granddaughter Lily and grandson Kaicen) of Winston-Salem, NC, daughter Casey “Hean Jean” (Hunt, grandson Hunt and granddaughter Alice Ann) of Charleston, SC, son Zach “MoJo” (Denise and grandson Gabriel) of Fort Mill, SC. He is also survived by his sister Kathy Covington (Doug and niece Amie) of Winston-Salem, NC.

He will be greatly missed by his 5 children, their significant others and his grandchildren.   

In lieu of flowers, it would be a great honor to our Dad if everyone took time to call a family member, make amends if needed, and tell them you love them no matter how it’s received. If you’re set on doing something, please volunteer at your local homeless shelter in his memory. If you’re “hard-headed” like he was you are welcome to donate to The Arbor Day Foundation in his memory (https://shop.arborday.org/donate-now.aspx)