Longtime Claremonter, WWII veteran, bicyclist, weightlifter

Robert Wendel “Bob” Poling has died at the age of 94.

He had been a resident of Claremont since 1953, was an avid Claremont Wilderness Park bicyclist and an accomplished woodcraftsman.

He was also a lifelong weightlifter and body builder, and was late Claremont High School football coach Esper Keiser’s first weightlifting trainer.

Baby Boomers may remember the World War II veteran of the Army Air Corps as the president of Claremont’s Pop Warner football and Pony League baseball teams in the 1960s, or as a DMV examiner who helped them get their first drivers’ licenses in the ‘60s and ‘70s.

He retired from the DMV as an investigator in 1988 after chasing down car dealers who tried to sell lemons as cherries.

Mr. Poling, who loved to tell the same jokes and stories (over and over and over again), was preceded in death by his loving wife Laura, and doting son Rob.

He is survived by his daughter, Wendy Poling Kellam, of Montgomery, Texas, and her two  daughters; son, Dave Poling, of Upland, and his four children; daughter, Francie Poling Grant, of Laguna Niguel, her fiancé Jon Kolodge, and her two sons; five great-grandchildren; niece, Tanya Monroe of Mission Viejo, and her two children; three brothers-in-law; three sisters-in-law; numerous nieces, nephews and friends. They were all cherished and major parts of his life as he was cherished and a major part of theirs, his family shared.

A memorial service will take place at 1 p.m. Friday, November 29 at Todd Memorial Chapel, 325 N. Indian Hill Blvd., Claremont.