Page 68 - Senior Link Magazine Winter 2022 - Online Magazine

TRA VEL
An Inspirational
GentlemanBob Kiser
ing’s Highway Charters
and Tours has been driving
Kgroups and tours for over
25 years now. A few weeks ago, we
were honored to travel with our
oldest passenger to date: 98-year-
old Bob Kiser went with us on our
Canyons and Glacier National Park
tour in August. His son, Kurt Kiser,
decided to join him and make it
a father/son trip. Bob asked Kurt
every day to let him sit in the aisle
seat so he could talk to people.
Traveling, for him, has become more
about the people than the places.
You see, Bob (and his wife and three
children) lived in several other
countries over the years, including
Venezuela, Australia, and Malaysia,
to name a few, and he and his wife
68 Lubbock Senior Link
by Vickie Walters
wife, Marna, became too disabled
from Parkinson’s disease to cook,
clean, or drive, Bob took over the
daily responsibilities. One day, Kurt
was visiting when Marna was in
late-stage Parkinson’s, and he heard
his father singing in the bathroom.
When Bob came out, Kurt asked his
dad how he could be so happy. Bob
replied, “Kurt, you can choose to
be happy and positive, or sad and
negative. I choose to be positive.”
Bob’s longevity of life is also due to
how active he has been throughout
his life. He is a veteran of World
War II*, worked for Exxon Mobil for
40 years, and rode his bike across
the United States five times, the last
of 54 years traveled quite a bit before time when he was 84 years old. He
she passed in 2008. receives compliments many times
on what an inspiration he is, and he
Bob doesn’t think like a 98-year- just shrugs his shoulders, not seeing
old. He is a life-learner—always what they see.
interested in the people and places
around him. On our trip, he always While in Sedona, AZ, on our trip, he
wanted to read the historic signs and Kurt were on a trolley tour that
and brochures about the places we took the group to the Chapel of the
went. Bob Holy Cross.
even listens The chapel
to the Bible sits on a
in Spanish hill, and the
each morning trolley must
to improve park at the
his Spanish- bottom.
speaking skills! Bob climbed
He chooses to out of the
be positive, trolley and
too. When his started