Chilkat Valley News - Serving Haines and Klukwan, Alaska since 1966

Ronnie Hauser, a tour bus driver who moved here from North Carolina in 2008 to join family, died at home in hospice care on June 10. He was 72 and suffered chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Arrangements for a service are pending.

Hauser was also active in his church and performed magic tricks at the Southeast Alaska State Fair and birthday parties.

"Ronnie loved talking to people because he was interested in them, and that is what made him an interesting man. I couldn't wait for him to come home at night," said wife Shirley Hauser.

Neighbor Susie McCartney said she would miss Hauser, who walked his dog Fern regularly down Small Tracts Road until she died last winter at age 14. "He had that deep Carolina accent and was just a ray of sunshine. Ronnie was one of the good guys," McCartney said.

Barb Blood attended Port Chilkoot Bible Church with Hauser, where he often gave the children's sermon, incorporating his illusions. "He'd use his whole repertoire and then tie it into the Bible story. The kids loved it and we adults loved it, too," Blood said.

"Ronnie always let the ladies go first, and he bought my tea in the morning but he never accepted my money," Takshanuk Mountain Trail tour co-worker Sabrina Harvey recalled. "His fish tales were the best. They were never true, but the tourists loved them."

Born July 13, 1944, in Winston-Salem, N.C., Ronnie Hauser was the oldest of three sons of Willie, a homemaker, and George Hauser, a chicken farmer and variety store keeper. He grew up in rural King and enlisted in the Army the day after graduation because jobs were scarce and he wanted to get to work, family said. He was stationed in Germany.

Hauser returned to King after the military, attended Piedmont Bible College, and drove eighteen-wheelers for Roadway Trucking Company. He met Shirley Myers, who worked in the office of a freight company, through a mutual friend. They were married in King in October 1969. In 1970, "As they say in the south 'we got saved,'" Shirley said. Hauser remained a devout Christian the rest of his life, she said.

Hauser coached YMCA baseball for his son's teams, drove a church bus for Friendly Chapel, and learned magic tricks on family vacations to the shore. "He kept his tricks a secret," Shirley said. "He never did say how he did them."

The family moved from King into Winston-Salem, where he started a landscape business. "He re-did twenty-something Hardees (restaurants)," Shirley said. "He loved that."

In Haines, Hauser drove tour bus for Alaska Mountain Guides and Chilkat Guides. Co-owner Eli Fierer praised Hauser's dependability, flexibility, and good humor. "Our guests loved being with him, and our guides loved working with him. Ronnie brought a lot of goodness to our community," Fierer said.

Hauser's hobbies included photographing wildlife, gardening, and fishing with friends.

He was devoted to his six year-old granddaughter. "Talia was so much a part of his life. He was with her on every one of her Christmases and birthdays. I'm going through all the old photographs and making her a grandfather book, to remember him by," Shirley said.

In addition to wife Shirley, son Daniel and granddaughter Talia of Haines, Ronnie Hauser leaves brother Steve of Virginia Beach, Va., and several nieces and nephews.