Timothy Craig Kiser
GRIEVING: Rhonda Kiser wipes away a tear at her Redding home Friday. Kiser learned Thursday night that her husband of eight years, Timothy, had been killed while serving in Iraq.
REMEMBERING: Kyle Thompson, 18, looks at photos of his mother and stepfather, Timothy Kiser, at their Redding home Friday. Kiser, an Army sergeant, was killed in Iraq on Thursday.
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Redding Soldier killed in Iraq By Kimberly Bolander, Record Searchlight April 30, 2005 A soldier from Redding was killed in Iraq when the Humvee he was driving hit a makeshift bomb, his family said Friday. Army Sgt. Timothy Craig Kiser, 37, died instantly Thursday night north of Baghdad, between Tikrit and Kirkuk, said his wife, Rhonda, also 37. Kiser was promoted the day before he was killed, from a specialist to a sergeant. The north state truck driver had re-enlisted in the Army in August and had been serving in Iraq since New Year's Day, Rhonda Kiser said. "He was very proud of what he was doing," she said. Rhonda received an early birthday card from her husband Thursday, the same day uniformed officers knocked on her door at 11 p.m. with the news that he had died in the line of duty. In the card, Kiser described how bombs were being planted in the new roads being built. "I'm not afraid to admit this stuff makes me nervous," he wrote. Starting at age 18, Kiser served three years in the Army. But he always talked about how he wished he'd stayed in longer, said his wife, a Redding loan officer. When a recruiter friend once teased her that he might talk to her teenage daughter about military service, Rhonda worried instead about her spouse. "I said, 'Don't you dare, because then my husband will want to join,'" she said. Kiser decided to re-enlist in January 2004, but it took some time for the paperwork to go through. "He worked hard to get back in. He called (U.S. Rep.) Wally Herger's office. He wanted in," his wife said. "When I got mad because he was rejoining, he said, 'Hey, freedom isn't free.'" The couple had been married for eight years. Kiser had two sons, Jordan, 13, and Austin, 14, who live in Mount Shasta, as well as stepson Kyle Thompson, 18, and stepdaughter Danyelle Thompson, 19, both of Redding. At the Kisers' home, friends' flower arrangements decorated the dining room table, where the family's teenagers sifted through a small trunk of old photographs. Danyelle's boyfriend, 23- year-old Chris Morris, wore Kiser's camouflage jacket, given to him before Kiser left for Iraq. Many pictures show Kiser, a big teddy bear of a man, smiling at the camera. He was the jokester of the family, his wife said. "He was goofy," she said. "He liked to call you and use some silly accent, so you would have no idea who was talking." He loved to sing and had been on the worship team at Cottonwood First Baptist Church. He liked spy novels and war movies such as "The Patriot," "Black Hawk Down" and "We Were Soldiers," as well as "Lord of the Rings." Playing paintball and just being outdoors with the kids were his favorite ways to spend an afternoon, especially if water sports such as boating, jet skiing, swimming, boogie boarding or water volleyball were included. "He was a big kid. He liked to play," his wife said, adding that he was "book smart" and good at math. Kiser wanted to do a tour as a medic, but was shipped out sooner than expected. From Iraq, her husband had called at least every three days, sometimes with explosions sounding in the background. "They'd get mortared every day," she said. "It's unnerving, but it's kind of like you get used to it." A few weeks ago, his group's gunner had been injured at the base between Kirkuk and Tikrit, Rhonda Kiser said. She plans to fly to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to receive her husband's body. Funeral arrangements are pending, but the family plans to bury Kiser in Redding. |