Hi. My name is not important, but what IS important is that Rob Kullander was a lifelong friend of mine. And, if you’re reading this, he was probably your friend too. in 1988, I was a senior at Bartow High School and Rob was a year younger than me. We had some art classes together and I’d see him in the hall at school. I don’t really know when it happened, or how…. but one day we were just friends. Like I’d known him for years. Rob was like that. He was a friend to everyone he met. He had a way of growing on you, like a fungus. And l, like so many others just found myself hanging out with that kid and it seemed like I’d known him my entire life. Rob was easy like that. He LISTENED to what people had to say. He genuinely CARED about people and the stories they told. Their life, their experiences, their tastes in music, food, movies, books, philosophies. He wanted to take it all in and he wanted to experience everything he could…either first hand or vicariously through others. Rob lived with his grandparents, Bob and Maureen, and his Uncle Warren. They raised that kid the very best they could and sacrificed for him so that he could make his own way in the world. They rocked it. Rob also had 2 brothers, a mom and a step dad, but still, he was always a bit of a loner. Maybe that’s why he filled his life with stuff he loved. Stuff that made him happy. Comic books, toys, lava lamps, posters, books, stolen traffic sings, records, tapes, CD’s, knives, musical instruments, VHS tapes, skateboards, tattoos, cigarettes, movies, video games, drug paraphernalia, concerts, sneakers, hair dye, cats, motorcycles, jewelry…and friendships. Rob surrounded himself with friends. Friendships are what defined him more than any other thing. Rob also had a passion for music. He bought a bass and learned to play it. Kinda. He wrote songs constantly. He sang…growled mostly…but he never ever gave up on his dream to perform. To sing the songs that he wrote in front of a fan base that he created at a venue that he convinced to let him play in the first place. Friendships. He was a promoter. A hype man. A hustler. A writer. A producer. An artist. A performer. It was who he was and he never stopped doing what he loved. Even after many of us so called “punk kids” threw in the towel so we could have babies and get stupid jobs working for the man so we could pay taxes and mortgages and bills…doing middle aged things like playing golf or fishing or pretending to care about sports…..Rob simply kept writing. Kept performing. Kept promoting. Kept hustling. Kept making friends. Rob found time to fall in love. He found time to have a daughter and to celebrate every milestone and aspect of her life with her. His wife Anna and daughter Gwen were the only things that I ever saw that Rob put before his passion for music. He was the front man for their family. He was their Joey Ramone. He was Gwen’s promoter, hype man and fan club president. As painful as it is for me to write this, it makes my heart so happy knowing that he leaves behind a wonderful daughter who loved him and a wife that was able to be married to the best friend anyone could ever ask for. I’m going to miss my friend Rob, but not as much as Gwen is going to miss her daddy or as much as Anna is going to miss her rock, her husband and her friend. I have never created a LFEBridge before and honestly I hope I never have to again, but it is my sincere hope that this little memorial helps to get Gwen and Anna through some of the difficulties that are sure to lie ahead for them. If you can donate anything at all, please consider doing that here…and if you can’t, that’s okay too. Just check in on them once in a while. Tell them how great Rob was and how lucky they are to have had him in their lives for as long as they did. Be the friend that Rob would have been. RIP Robbie. We love you man.
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