Bob Geis survived two fiery crashes in bombers, though he never flew a bombing mission in the two wars in which he served.
Geis died at his Lakewood home Sept. 2, just nine days short of his 83rd birthday.
A memorial service is planned for 11 a.m. Saturday at University Park United Methodist Church, 2180 S. University Blvd.
Geis, who later had a less-threatening career as a certified public accountant, first escaped death in 1946 when he was stationed at the Naval Air Station in Providence, R.I. He was testing a bomber, and the plane burst into flames at takeoff.
It was headed for Narragansett bridge, which was loaded with motorists at rush hour. He managed to point the plane into the bay before bailing out. He suffered only hypothermia, said his son, Dr. Raym Geis of Fort Collins.
The second incident was during the Korean War, when he was training fighter pilots. Another plane from the base near Pensacola, Fla., crashed into his plane, which burst into flames.
Geis’s parachute caught in a tree, he passed out, and when he awakened, he cut himself loose. He was in a swampy area, and it was more than 12 hours before he got to a place where he could call his wife, Sally. By that time, Navy officials had already visited her home to tell her he had been killed.
He suffered minor injuries.
Bob Geis and Sally Brown, both of Salina, Kan., met through his mother, who decided the two young people “were bored” with Salina, Sally Geis recalled. She introduced them, “and that was it,” Sally Geis said.
They married on May 12, 1951, and moved to Denver.
Geis and Max Grassfield were soaring buddies — glider pilots.
“Bob just loved to fly, and he did glider piloting a long time,” said Grassfield, who once ran a local men’s store of the same name. “The nice thing about gliders is there’s no possibility of engine failure.”
Geis was “a superb accountant and financial adviser,” said Grassfield, who also was a client.
Iliff School of Theology “flourished” because of Geis’ work as chairman of the business-affairs committee, said former president Don Messer. Geis insisted on balanced budgets and “responsible financial management,” he said.
“Bob didn’t fit the stereotype so many people have of accountants,” said Mary Medley, CEO of the Colorado Society of Certified Public Accountants. “He’s wasn’t shy or low-key. He was outgoing and funny and dapper.”
Geis had been president of the society and was chairman of a regional ethics board for the American Institute of CPAs.
Robert Benn Geis was born in Salina on Sept. 11, 1925.
He earned his bachelor’s degree at the University of Kansas and his master’s in business administration at the University of Denver.
He was senior partner in Geis, Burdorff & Co., a CPA firm.
In addition to his wife and son, he is survived by another son, Jim Geis of Golden, and two grandchildren.
Virginia Culver: 303-954-1223 or vculver@denverpost.com
