Wife of KFC shooting victim grateful for community’s compassion

Kaluza, 48, visits her husband every Saturday or Sunday. Other days, his mother or sister keep him company.

“It’s hard. I hate to leave him,” Kaluza said, wiping tears from her eyes. “He always asks, ‘How’s the kids?’”

She said it’s probably a good thing the children don’t understand much of what happened. This way, they don’t get nervous or upset.

At the hospital, someone holds the phone so Joe can talk and blow kisses to his wife. Relating that bit of intimacy made her cry, and she apologized for the tears.

She said KFC bought her husband a DVD player, and she’s taken CDs to the hospital — George Jones, Kenny Chesney and Kenny Rogers. The Kaluzas, you see, are “big-time country music fans.”

She thanks God every day that Joe has survived the shooting, regardless of his paralysis.

“It’s too quiet here without him,” Kaluza said, looking around her Ivanhoe Avenue home and the kitchen cupboards refinished by her loving husband. “We always went out every Saturday. Whitehouse Fruit Farm — that’s the kids’ favorite place— and House of China for dinner. He and Josh would walk in the mall, and we’d all go for long rides.”

Kaluza knows the prognosis for her husband isn’t good, but that hasn’t diminished her hope. He has months more to go in acute care and then a program for quadriplegics.

“I have high hopes. He’s a fighter — he’ll be throwing his crutches,” Kaluza said. “There will be happy tears. I have high hopes.”

On the porch, Kaluza posed for a photo with her children.

Being outside reminded her of family cookouts — with her husband as chef. “He’s my own Emeril Lagasse. He loves to cook.”

Taran D. Helms, 22, of West Hylda Avenue, and Hattie L. Gilbert, 20, of East Judson Avenue, are each charged with attempted aggravated murder and aggravated robbery. Police said Helms walked up and shot Joe Kaluza after Gilbert staged the accident. The KFC bank deposit of about $300 was taken.