Outstanding
Outstanding
On a cold February day in 1965, a little
fella was born to Bob and Lynda Bird of Menomonie, Wisconsin. They named him
Tim, and Tim had an older sister by a year and a couple of weeks, Tammy. After Tim, came Steve, Kevin, and Amy, and the
family was complete. Tim grew up rough-housing and watching the Packers with
his brothers, sisters, and many cousins. A day in the life of Tim, as a
youngster, consisted of getting up each day, dressed and ready at 7:00 a.m., helping
out with farm chores, taking the bus ride to and from school, and enjoying after-school
activities as well as church events--a normal upbringing in all respects with
the added bonus that Tim was an exceptionally hard worker, who never quit until
the job was done right.
As
an adult, Tim chose a career working at Tiffany Creek Elementary School. Any
test or worksheet that Boyceville kids completed was most likely printed under
Tim´s careful oversight. He also
travelled to other neighboring districts from time to time as a guest speaker. Of course, he remained a Packer super-fan as
well. Throughout his career he maintained his steady schedule and was never
late for work. Chances are if you have spent any time in Boyceville, you have
met Tim Bird.
Tim was a globe trekker well beyond Dunn
County. He collected friends from his journeys to Europe and Scandinavia, eight
different countries in total. It was not unusual for him to be found up front
next to the bus drivers and tour guides on his tours, as they would be so taken
with his personality that they would reserve a special seat for him. On this
continent, he traveled to more states than most of us will ever have the
opportunity to visit. He even assisted
the camp cook on a wagon train out in Wyoming one summer.
Tim was an Olympian. You can Google it.
He was also an artist, with a specialty in marker-art and an impressive collection
of inks and papers. In whatever Tim set his mind to try, he found himself
successful. In recent years, his homemade bird houses have sold for hundreds of
dollars at the annual family reunion auction. Our family’s summer reunion, by
the way, is an in-demand, well-attended corporation of movers and shakers, and
Tim is the official Sheriff and Parking Supervisor. He is also the boat
skipper. Not an enemy in the world,
anybody who has ever met him, has never forgotten him or walked away a lesser
person. He’s just that sort of guy.
And we lost him this past week. Tim was
my husband´s godson, and personally, he was my marker-art, Pringles, and word-search
comrade. The loss is vast and the hole he has left is deep. You see, while
everything I´ve written about Tim up to this point paints a picture of a normal
fun-loving family member, there is one more fact about Tim that has made his
extraordinary life even more extraordinary. Tim has what is referred to as
Trisomy 21, familiarly known as Downs Syndrome. According
to the CDC, children with Downs Syndrome back in the 1960s meant that a child might
live to be 10 years old but not much older. The majority of those children were
referred to institutions that did not necessarily know how to teach or care for
the specific special needs of Downs kids.
Trisomy 21/Downs means that at
conception, the 21st position of the 23 chromosomes pairs contains “a
pair and a spare.” Each parent
contributes 23 chromosomes to create the zygote (fertilized egg), to make 23
pairs. In Downs, there are three instead of two #21 chromosomes, for a total of
47 chromosomes instead of 46. This causes a child to have specific physical characteristics,
and significant health challenges. Tim was born with four holes in his heart, with
little hope of survival. Each check-up at the doctor’s office was met by
surprise on the part of the medical staff that spunky little Tim was still
hanging in there. By his teenage years, his heart had healed and he was able to
be medication-free in that regard.
Fortunately for Tim, his parents chose not
to institutionalize him, but to bring him up in a normal, rambunctious household,
where there were chores and expectations, and unconditional acceptance. Tim
escaped stigmas that otherwise may have stifled his growth and education. He
was integrated from birth into his community, and Tim thrived.
Tim’s memorial service, was a standing-room-only event. In the tapestry of his life, Tim was able to weave
countless friends into the fabric of his years. He has seen mountains and
oceans. He has heard concert orchestras in grand halls, and given serenades on
his guitar. He has held newborn nephews and nieces and nurtured them as they
grew up graduated and advanced on to college. He has mucked barns and savored
the fragrance of the season’s first mown hay, then gotten on a plane and flown
to a Norwegian fjord. He has enjoyed a summer Leinenkugel in the backyard, and
24 hours later toasted with his friends and family at the Hofbrauhaus in
Munich. In the words of his sister, Tammy, “He has gambled at Vegas. He’s
looked down into the Grand Canyon. He’s heard the falls at Niagara, and climbed
the Rockies. He spun on top of the Seattle Space Needle and sat next to Mickey
Mouse. What can we say? He deserved a life like the rest of us.”
Tim’s eyes took in every moment of his
experiences with appreciation for his one life on this planet, and reflected it
back onto us all. If you ever greeted him and asked how he was, the answer was
always “Outstanding.” He outran the
defense, as a true Packer should. Tim was 59.
“If you ever met Tim, you were
loved.” –Molly Tyroler, Tim’s niece.
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