Moses Lake soldier visits students

MOSES LAKE - After spending more than a year keeping in touch with letters and cards, Lakeview Terrace Elementary School students finally met Moses Lake soldier Ben Kayser in person.

Kayser, an Army Ranger Captain with the 82nd Airborne, based out of Fort Bragg, N.C., recently returned after 15 months service in Iraq.

He spent part of his vacation Monday speaking with Lakeview Terrace Elementary School students about Iraq and encouraging them to succeed. The students welcomed him with star treatment, seeking his autograph after his presentation.

"I came to thank you for your prayers," Kayser told students. "Your prayers saved a lot of people in Iraq."

Kayser showed students a short video about his job in the Army and he took audience questions.

Teacher Gayle Talbot said when Kayser visited another teacher's classroom, students treated him like a rock star.

"They were screaming, 'Ben Kayser's here. Ben Kayser's here,'" Talbot said.

Talbot's students sent Valentine's Day cards to him last year and communicated with letters. They asked him questions about himself and about Iraq, and he sent answers back.

"The first time I got a letter from Lakeview, my home school, my heart was really warmed," Kayser said.

Kayser said he planned to speak with just the classes who sent letters to him, but the principal suggested he speak with the entire school.

He introduced students to his now retired sixth-grade teacher Lois Wright, who was in the audience.

"She taught me to believe in myself," Kayser said.

Kayser told students that teachers and parents believe in them. He said he came to visit students because he believes in them.

Wright said she remembers Kayser from 1991.

"He's just older, but he looks just like he did in sixth grade," Wright said.

She said Kayser was a top student, and he was kind.

School secretary Linda Bishop said she met Kayser when he was a student at Garden Heights Elementary School.

"It's like having a celebrity (here)," Bishop said. "What a role model for the children, because he continued to say they could do whatever they planned to do."

Bishop said she believed Kayser was a leader, even when he was a child.

Kayser's wife Betts and children Grace, 3, and Bella, 1, were also in the audience.

Betts Kayser said she and her husband grew spiritually during the 15 months they spent apart.

"It turned out to be a tough time, but a fruitful time too," she said.

She said she learned to appreciate the small things. When people complained about their husband leaving clothes on the floor, she had a response for them.

"I would say, 'I would love to have clothes on the floor in piles.'"