ROBERT W. (ROB) MAUTHE

Condolences & Memories (2 entries)

• I must have dreamt about Rob because when I woke I had this clear image of Rob's face in my mind. When I checked online I found the date of passing to be EXACTLY 10 years to the day. Exactly. So, there is the nudge I needed to spill my guts. I had been a volunteer with the Folk Festival for many, many years and always looked forward to seeing my Folkie family every year. This included the Park staff and, in particular, Rob Mauthe. We had met in my first year there and hit it off right away. I understood him immediately. We were both outdoor guys, both loved music, our family, nature and beauty. We also must have both loved babysitting grown children because that was essentially my task in the Security crew at the Festival. Same with Rob. We would share stories and have a laugh at the crazy stuff we saw and had to deal with during that week in July. When things got nasty, as they sometimes do when you mix 5000+ people in a dark unsupervised field with alchohol, weapons and drugs, Rob was the guy I wanted standing next to me. He didn't tolerate any BS when it came to safety. A strong sense of right and wrong was another thing we shared. He would invite me to the C.O. Office for dinner that he would prepare and I would bring him, and the other C.O. Officers, with me for delicious free meals at the Festival Site. I was scolded by the Festival administrators more than once for bringing them down to consume food that was meant for volunteers but I really didn't care and continued to do so. We would talk about music for hours where I would try to convince him of the evils of Country, but I could never sell it. Likewise, he would try to convince me on the evils of being a square head but his position fell on deaf ears. "My wife is one too !", he would laugh. Lucky guy. The last memory I have of Rob is at the Festival on a Saturday night, of him standing at the Crosswalk Gate checkpoint I had begun that year. In an attempt to get a handle on the army of people that would cross over from the Festival site to the Campground after Mainstage closed, we had started checking wristbands right at the road and sending those without packing. Anyway, he was standing there with his wife, and he was watching and smiling and saying "good job Marty, good job. Somebody cares". At that point, as I now know, he was already very ill and on limited duties at the Park. I had asked him about it at some point and all he said was he didn't know what was wrong. But he did. He just didn't want to worry me. The event finished, I went back to my life, he went back to his. That was July, 2008. I came back excited in 2009 and that's when I heard Rob had died. I wish you would have said something, so I could have spent some more time with you, shared a few more laughs, made a few more memories. I never got to say goodbye so I will say it now. Goodbye Rob. I am glad we crossed paths and I miss you. Please continue to keep popping into my thoughts whenever you feel like it. - Posted by: Marty (Folk Festival Friend) on: Apr 19, 2019

• It's been almost four years since you left me. Not a day goes by that I don't think of you. I have tried to move on in life but still find times when I wish I could go back to the way it was. One day we will be together again but until then I have to make the best of it and live on this side. At times I still hear you sing and know you are keeping an eye on me. You will always be in my heart. Love you!!! - Posted by: Aneliese (Wife) on: Mar 29, 2013