Timothy C. Kiser

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Sgt. Timothy Craig Kiser has become the latest California casualty of the war in Iraq.

He was killed Thursday on a road near Kirkuk, Iraq, when a bomb buried beneath the roadway exploded under his Humvee, according to his brother, James.

Kiser’s wife, Rhonda, described her husband as an optimist with a sense of humor.

“Kids always loved him because it was like having a great big friend,” she said. “He loved to go down to the Delta and go tubing behind a boat,” she said.

Kizer enjoyed joking with the Iraqi children, and loved to give them treats, she said.

“He forever had me sending bags of candy for the kids,” she said.

Jennifer Krock, Kiser’s former wife and mother of their teenage sons Austin and Jordan, said Kiser kept in close touch with the boys, who are now struggling with news of his...