A 105-year-old man is gearing up to witness his 13th solar eclipse, and he couldn't be more excited. LaVerne Biser has spent over 60 years as an eclipse chaser, traveling to witness the phenomenon. For the 2024 eclipse, however, he won't have to travel far at all. He will be able to see the total eclipse close to his home.
Though he's not concerned about witnessing the eclipse at such an old age, the weather is something that makes him nervous this year. “I’m afraid we won’t see it because of the clouds," he said in a video chat with People. "I’ve seen 12 of ‘em and I always want to see the next one.”
LaVerne, who grew up on his family's farm in Ohio, went on to share how he's always been a lover of the sky. “Back on the farm, it was really dark so you could see the Big Dipper, Orion, all the constellations,” he explained. "We were well acquainted with the sky. I hate that kids nowadays have never really seen a sky like that.”
He went on to reminisce about his experiences of witnessing the past solar eclipses. The last trip he and his wife Marion, who passed away in 2023 at 97 years old, took was to see the total solar eclipse in 2017 in Beatrice, Nebraska. 1963 marks the first time they took a trip to witness the eclipse as a family, with their two kids, Tim and Carol. At that time, they drove 2,000 miles to Maine for the experience.
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Since then, they've driven to all of the eclipses that have occurred in the United States. He and his wife even saw a few on cruises. “We drove to Santa Rosa, New Mexico, Beatrice, Nebraska, we drove to Alabama," he said. "We made it part of our vacations.”
