Corcoran resident Robert "Bob" Geissler is on the go constantly, so much so that not even retirement could slow him down.

Geissler, 76, has been selected the Grand Marshal for the 80th anniversary of the Kings County Homecoming.

"I can't believe they gave it to me." he said. "I am very surprised and still very humbled by it. I am number 80 on the list."

Geissler said he had no idea that several people had put his name in for the honor.

"It's wonderful. It's what America is about and what the County of Kings is about," he said about the annual homecoming celebration.

Geissler's wife of 34 years, Pollie, describes him as a very happy person who is always busy doing something.

"In fact, that is what I like about him. He is always happy," she said.

Pollie Geissler said that in her husband's vocabulary the word "no" doesn't exist when it comes to volunteering.

"I love to volunteer. I haven't learned to say no yet," he said.

"I keep telling him 'you need to learn to say 'no,'" she said. "He thinks I am his calendar. He gets in trouble when his calendar is full and he says yes."

She recalls that sometimes her husband's agenda for a day is filled with meetings and places he needs to go.

"He's always doing something every day," she said. "Bob is a people person. He loves to talk."

Pollie Geissler said she is glad her husband was selected to be this year's Grand Marshal.

"It's an honor and I am glad he has it," she said.

Born in Hanford on Jan. 31, 1931, Robert Geissler went to local elementary schools and graduated from Hanford High School in 1950.

He joined the Army in 1950 and was deployed to Korea in 1951. After a year in Korea, Geissler came back to the United States before he was discharged in 1953. He finished his three years of military service at Fort Sill Artillery in Oklahoma where he served as an instructor.

He returned to Hanford and resumed his job with Branch and Chambers until he returned to college to become an industrial arts teacher.

Geissler earned a bachelor's degree in Industrial Art from California State University, Fresno in 1955. He also has a special secondary credential in all the areas of shop classes.

Geissler's first teaching job took him to Baldwin Park in Southern California where he taught machine shop and metal shop. He returned to the Central Valley and attended CSUF to take courses in all the areas of industrial art he taught.

When he first started teaching welding in 1956, Geissler said there were 16 ways to weld, "now there are over 300 ways."

"In order to teach, you have to keep up to date," Geissler said of continuing education to keep up with the latest in his field.

He also taught woodwork, metalwork and auto mechanics in Lindsay, and served as a part-time lay pastor at Laton Methodist Church for three years.

Geissler moved to Corcoran in 1966 and started working for the Corcoran Unified School District as a teacher at the junior high school level.

Bob and Pollie met in 1971 when both were part of the Methodist Church's choir. They were married two years later.

"She is a very wonderful lady," he said of his wife.

Geissler was in the field of education for 33 years and taught in Corcoran for 24 years before retiring in 1990.

He also worked for Del Monte cannery in Kingsburg as a mechanic for 18 summers in between school years.

"I never took a vacation," he said. "I have to retire to keep myself together."

Even though Geissler has been retired for 17 years, he continues to be very active with his volunteer work.

"I haven't slowed down yet," he said.

Bob said he keeps busy with church and other volunteer activities.

He has been a lay leader in church. He also has been very active with the Corcoran Christmas Tree committee, PTA, Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts, summer camp Scout staff, YMCA volunteer, senior lunch program, and EED job fairs among other activities.

He and his wife were honored as the Citizens of the Year in Corcoran in 1999 and that same year they were selected to represent Corcoran as Area King and Queen for the 1999 Kings County Homecoming.

Geissler is currently a commander with the Corcoran Legion Post 144. He is active with the Optimist Club in Corcoran and the California Retired Teachers Association. He also has served as a board of director for Fast Federal Credit Union for 30 years.

He is a member of the Kings County Pomona Grange and Kings River Subordinate Grange. He has been active in the Corcoran Christmas Parade and part of the Kings County Homecoming Committee and has served as distinguished lieutenant governor for Optimist Clubs in the area and past distinguished president in the club.

When he is not volunteering, Geissler said that in his spare time he likes to work at his own wood shop at home building wooden toys.

Geissler has two children from a previous marriage.

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(May 13, 2007)