Timothy Kiser

Only one day before he died when his Humvee drove over a bomb planted in the road by Iraqi insurgents, Timothy Kiser was promoted to sergeant in the Army National Guard.

So fresh was the news of the 37-year-old former Fremont resident's promotion that his mother, Jacquie Sue Dunn of Milpitas, didn't even know why it had happened.

But she did know that Kiser was feeling lucky to have narrowly escaped with his life just a few days before the fatal blast, when he drove over a bundle of six explosives but only one detonated, blowing a tire but leaving no one hurt. "He was very nervous."

Last Thursday, as he drove a Humvee near the oil-rich northern city of Kirkuk, another bomb worked as designed, and Kiser was killed.

"I'm proud of him," Dunn said.

Kiser joined the Army Reserves for three years right out of high school, then became a truck driver in the civilian world. He rejoined last year in hopes of getting some training as a medical assistant.

"He thought he was going to go to school for that, and he got his orders to go to Iraq," Dunn said. He arrived there Jan. 2, and took pride in his work, she said.

"He thought he could make a difference. He thought he really was making a difference. He felt sorry for all the children that were running around there begging, with no parents. He was always asking us to send things for things to give them, like candy," Dunn said. He would often use the candy to get information about insurgents' activities.

Timothy Craig Kiser was born in Cincinnati on Feb. 5, 1968. He, his brother, James, and mother moved to the Bay Area in 1969. He grew up in Fremont, and graduated from Irvington High School in 1986. Kiser had been living with his family in the Redding/Mount Shasta area.

When he re-enlisted, he was assigned to the Army National Guard's 340th Forward Support Battalion, 40th Infantry Division, Red Bluff, Calif. He was not assigned to be a medic, as he had hoped, but rather was an explosives engineer.

Kiser is survived by his mother and stepfather, Jacquie and Ronald Dunn, of Milpitas; wife Rhonda Kiser, of Redding; brother James Kiser, of Manteca; sons Austin Kiser and Jordan Kiser, of Mount Shasta; stepson Kyle Thompson and stepdaughter Danyelle Thompson, both of Redding; and half-sister Shannon Huhn of Milford, Ohio; adopted sister, Shawn Dunn, of San Jose, and former wife Jennifer Krock, of Mount Shasta. Memorial services will be at the Allen and Dahl Funeral Chapel, 9100 Deschutes Road, Palo Cedro, but day and time had not been set today. Kiser will be buried at the Cottonwood Cemetery in Cottonwood.