A tribute to an intrepid traveler, my mother.

05-05-2009

This is a cyber-memorial to my mother Pauline Kaiser, who departed on her final itinerary April 26, 2009. This file contains her obituary, a newspaper column I wrote for Mother Day 2006, and a short biography by her granddaughter, Tori Kaiser. 

We all wish her a Bon Voyage.

 

Pauline Kaiser

Age 85, of Scott Twp, on Sunday, April 26, 2009; beloved wife of the late Sidney Kaiser and the late William George Bear; loving mother of David (Sari) Bear, Barry Kaiser, Marcy (Scott) Heatherington, and the late Gary Kaiser, mother-in-law of Peggy Kaiser; dear sister of Melvin Silver and Arnold Silver; cherished grandmother of Zachary Bear, Benjamin Bear, Kate Werner, Nicole Kaiser, Tori Kaiser, Melissa Heatherington, Jason Heatherington, Chandra Heatherington and Sean Heatheington; great-grandmother of Charlotte Anne Bear, Raasha Winston, Markeise Winston and Mia Heatherington; also survived by nieces and nephews. Pauline served her country in the Navy during WWII, afterwards remaining active with the Jewish War Veterans. Mrs. Kaiser also worked as a travel agent at the Mon Valley Travel Agency for more than 20 years. Funeral services were held at WILLIAM SLATER II FUNERAL SERVICE, 1650 Greentree Road, Scott Twp on Wednesday, April 29, 2009 at 2 p.m. Visitation one hour prior to services ( 1-2 p.m.). Interment followed at Ahavath Achim Cemetery (Kennedy Twp). Memorial contributions may be made to Jewish War Veterans, Post 785, 2201 Vodeli Street; Pittsburgh, PA 15216.

Have mother, will travel

By David Bear

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

05-14-2006

In addition to being Mother's Day, today begins National Tourism Week, which promotes awareness of the economic, social and cultural impact of travel. Travel has certainly had an impact on all three areas of my life.

Where does this interest come from? The urge for exploring new places, strolling unfamiliar streets, sampling exotic cuisines, hearing different languages, filling in blank spaces on one's personal map of the world?

In the case of this travel editor, the answer is easy: I always credit my mother.

Pauline Kaiser was a travel agent for over 25 years, at first with a small travel agency in Squirrel Hill and then with Mon Valley Travel, Downtown. She planned trips for hundreds of travelers, helping them get where they wanted to go, places she often recommended from personal experience, earning a reputation as one of the area's premier travel agents.

Many of her clients wouldn't leave home without her advice and brought her thank-you gifts upon their return. Some became her lifelong friends. One even later became my mother-in-law.

But for Polly, as everyone calls her, the occupation was more than a salary. It was a way for her to explore the world. She used the opportunities of familiarization trips, inaugural flights and cruises and travel agent discounts to go places she never would have been able to visit otherwise. There were getaways to cities in the United States, Canada and Mexico as well as many more extensive expeditions to Europe, the Middle East, Africa, South America, the Far East and the South Pacific.

Most of these trips happened after I had left home for college. But after each journey, she'd call or write and regale me with details of places she'd been, things she'd done, people she'd met. It all sparked my imagination.

Her connections got me a summer job writing airline tickets back in the pre-computer days when they were still filled out by hand. That led to a college job in a small travel agency, where my primary compensation came in airline tickets. And after graduation, I headed off to see Europe and stayed almost two years. I've been involved professionally with travel ever since.

Although most of her world jaunting took place after she turned 40, she claims she always had the urge to roam. "My mother told me I had gypsy blood, always looking for a reason to go someplace new."

Born and raised in Pittsburgh, she joined the Navy at 19 and in Norfolk met Bill Bear, a pilot from Kansas who romanced her with jump seat flights around the East: New Orleans, Florida, Cuba, New York. A year later, they were married, and he was sent to Japan. She met him in San Francisco on his return, and they went to help his parents on the Kansas farm and finish college. Two years later I was born. Eighteen months after that, shortly before graduation, he died of a ruptured appendix.

Widowed at 27, Polly returned to Pittsburgh, where she eventually remarried. She had three more children with Sidney Kaiser, but tending her flock kept her close to home except for short family vacations. It wasn't until 1965 that she decided it was time to return to work, when a friend directed her to a travel agency that needed help.

She cites Australia as the one place she always wanted to visit but didn't. She and my stepfather had reservations to go, but their plans were canceled when he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Shortly afterward, she retired to take care of him. After his death, she resumed her career part time. During that time, her travels were mostly to visit her children in Arizona and friends in Florida, but she also took several Elderhostel trips.

Now at 82, she's slowed physically and is content to stay at home. She doesn't miss being a travel agent; the business has changed a great deal in recent years. But she still relishes getting together with a group of industry veterans who call themselves "The Old Timers" to reminisce. To paraphrase Dr. Seuss, "Oh, the places they've been."

Interview with my Grandma

By Tori Kaiser

            Polly Kaiser is a very fun, loving, and interesting person. She was born on December 29, 1923 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. “Pittsburgh was a dirty little town at the time.” Growing up, she moved to all different places. At the time of the depression people were very poor. Her uncle owned shops in New England and the family moved to Connecticut so her father could work in the shops. She went to many different schools. For high school she went to Taylor Allderdice. The school is a very special school to her, because all her brothers and their wives also attended the school. The school also reminds her of her favorite memory of all time. She loved to swim. She practiced about 2 to 3 times a week, and was on a swim team. Her meet had just finished and she had about 15 minutes to get to graduation. “The teacher said, ‘that’s alright, just put your gown on,’ so I did, and my hair was all drippy wet.” She remembers. So she rushed to graduation and her long hair just kept dripping down her back. “Now that’s a memory isn’t it?” She said.
            Polly Kaiser attended four different colleges. She went to Connecticut College for Women, a college in Oklahoma, University of Kansas, and the University of Pittsburgh. She majored in creative writing, English, literature, and public information. She earned two degrees, and was a substitute English teacher for four to five years in the Chartiers school district.
            One of Polly’s favorite things to do was dance. She and her group would always hang out, and they loved visiting dance clubs and nightclubs. Back then, jazz music was very popular along with Frank Sinatra. It may seem like it was all fun and carefree back then, but it was not. A war had begun, and she joined the navy. When the war started she really wanted to join the service, and she just wanted it to be over with. Like everyone else in the service, she had to go through basic training and boot camp. During her term, she was a public information officer. Her job was to go around and say what was going on. Her home base was in Norfolk, Virginia. There was a newspaper Naval Air News, and she would interview the wounded soldiers and officers and write stories about them. “It was the hardest part of the job, but it was very interesting.”
            At the time of the Holocaust she was still in the navy. It still bothers her today about how little of information they received at the time. All she knew was that Hitler was a bad man, and was doing a lot of bad things. Her next job was in the travel industry. She was a travel agent and she remembers taking a group of people to Israel, and meeting a lot of people released from the concentration camps. In fact, she was actually friends with a Holocaust survivor, but sadly he passed away a little while ago.
            Polly Kaiser soon got married to a navy pilot who worked on an Aircraft carrier. He was a Kansas farm boy, and they even attended the University of Kansas together. They had their first child, David Bear. Her husband later got sick, and passed away. Later, a friend set her up on a blind date with Sidney Kaiser. She then married him, and had three kids, twin boys, Barry and my father, Gary, and a daughter, Marcy.
            A few last memories she shared with me was not having a Bat Mitzvah. In that generation girls did not have them, only boys. Also she remembered Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream speech”. She was in Pittsburgh at the time, and hardly knew any African Americans, but her father worked with a few, and she remembered their involvement. She actually met Corretta King, his wife, who spoke at my Uncle David’s graduation from Princeton.
            “And that’s my life story.” She said. Polly Kaiser is now approaching 85 years old, but she is still the amazing grandmother she has always been.

 

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