Denise F Kalette

Denise Kalette, journalist, died Friday April 16, 2021 in hospice care following a seizure induced coma; she was 74. Ms. Kalette, who, over decades, worked for several agencies including AP, USA Today, and CNN, followed her life’s passion to report and write on all manner of newsworthy events, wherever the assignment might take her. Denise grew up in modest Catholic surroundings with her siblings Dianne, Dorothy, Ed, and Tom. In the 1960s as a teen she discovered Folk music and was drawn to the storytelling themes and distant locales within the songs, setting the stage for her own pursuit of stories in far flung places. After graduating from Hiram College in Ohio, Ms. Kalette’s journalism career started in her hometown of Syracuse, NY as a Sunday features reporter with the Syracuse Herald Journal. From there Denise moved on to the Associated Press in Europe, living at times in Budapest, Geneva, and Paris. She returned to the States after a few years to work for USA Today as a national features writer that led to a variety of assignments such as; touring the grand railroad stations across the country, interviewing Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, and going undercover in a Northwest US county jail to document corruption in the local Sheriff’s Dept. Described as intelligent and curious, Denise’s process was to pursue the details and frame them in a relevant manner to deliver her reader the full story behind the headline. It was the backbone of her journalism career. After leaving USA Today she returned to Europe for several years as an interpreter for the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland. She finally settled in Atlanta, Georgia, taking on assignments for a national commercial publication. Although her career took her far and wide, she maintained ties with her family. Denise will be admired for following her passion, for loving her family, and for being a genuinely good person. Denise was preceded in her death by younger brother Tom. She is survived by two sisters, Dianne, and Dorothy, her brother Ed and a niece Meagan.