A Life Rebuilt: Tim Connors' Path to Wellness | Conversations With a Chiropractor - Conversations with a Chiropractor

Episode Transcript
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Speaker (00:04):
Hi, this is Dr.
Stephanie Watt here, and I'm the hostof Conversations with a Chiropractor.
This is not a health how to, butrather a conversation with some
amazing people I've had the pleasureof being with on my journey of life.
Think of it more like Tuesdays with Maury.
A fireside chat orchicken soup for the soul.

(00:27):
Grab a cup of coffee, sit back and enjoythis conversation with a chiropractor.

Stephanie (00:42):
Tim, thank you so much for being on this podcast.

Tim (00:45):
Well, I'm glad to do this.
it's different.
It's a first for me.

Stephanie (00:50):
You told me earlier that one time you were on a
video ad for your workplace.

Tim (00:56):
Great Lakes Recovery.
Long time ago.
And it took a while to get it right.

Stephanie (01:01):
And I assure you.
I had one

Tim (01:02):
line, you know, and that was,

Stephanie (01:04):
Oh, that's the expectation of perfection when
you just have one line, right?
this is just a conversation.

Tim (01:12):
Okay.

Stephanie (01:12):
So, you are a Yooper, true and true,

Tim (01:15):
Born and raised, yes.
Born and

Stephanie (01:16):
raised.
Tell me where you were born.

Tim (01:19):
I was born in a little burg on M 35, McFarland, Michigan.
in the old days it was called Turin.

Stephanie (01:26):
Really?

Tim (01:26):
Yeah.
it's Turin Township, you know,

Stephanie (01:29):
I wonder why it was called that.

Tim (01:32):
Don't know.

Stephanie (01:33):
how did it get to be McFarland?

Tim (01:35):
I think it was named after one of the residents.

Stephanie (01:40):
How many people were in McFarland when you were growing up?

Tim (01:43):
Hmm.

Stephanie (01:44):
How

Tim (01:44):
many people?
Let's see.
That's a good question.
I don't know, 300 I suppose.
If you count all the dogsand cats, I don't know.
It was small, you know.
We had a general store, Hanson'sstore, and there was a local tavern,
England's tavern, and a post office.
There was a couple of churches.

(02:05):
There was for sure a Lutheran church.
I was raised Catholic, so I neverwent to the Lutheran Church.
I don't remember if it wasstill active as a matter of
fact, but we had our own school.

Stephanie (02:16):
You did?
Yeah, I went to it.

Tim (02:17):
Carling did.
Big ol brick schoolhouse.
We went, K through 6th grade.
And then,

Stephanie (02:23):
And then where would you go in 7th grade?

Tim (02:25):
Rock.

Stephanie (02:26):
To

Tim (02:26):
Rock.

Stephanie (02:26):
High School.

Tim (02:28):
When we still had Rock High School, that doesn't exist anymore.

Stephanie (02:32):
know,

Tim (02:32):
go little giants.
we were the little giants, yeah.

Stephanie (02:36):
when you went to high school, how big was your high school?

Tim (02:38):
There was, 21 in my graduating class.

Stephanie (02:41):
Tell me a little bit about your dad and the way that you
grew up in that tiny little town.

Tim (02:47):
my dad owned a logging truck and, they called him a jobber.
he, employed a crew ofpeacemakers, pulp cutters.
We, cut some hardwood,but primarily pulpwood.
100 inch long, variedspecies, popple, jack pine.

(03:07):
a lot of it went for paper, went to Meadand different places to make paper, to
be around my dad in the woods was prettymuch what I did, my earliest memories are
being in the truck early in the morning,

Stephanie (03:24):
Going with him to the woods.

Tim (03:26):
yeah.
I wasn't very old and pretty quick.
I was doing different, functions for him,

Stephanie (03:35):
he put you to work.

Tim (03:36):
Oh, sure.
Eventually, my brother and sister.
I was the baby of the family.
when my brother had moved downstateand married, he wound up, getting
his own logging truck going, too.
He did?
Yeah.

Stephanie (03:51):
What was the business called?
What was your dad's business called?

Tim (03:53):
I don't think he ever had any signage on his truck.
he worked in the woods, for many yearsbefore I was born back in those days,
a lot of times the jobs were, wherethe jobs were, there would be a crew of
guys who would stay right in the woods.

Stephanie (04:09):
Like at a logging camp?
Small

Tim (04:11):
camps or sometimes tents, but you know, it was all pretty local so we didn't
travel that awful far, but a lot wererelation, my brother in law, Edwin, Kivi

Stephanie (04:24):
Oya, my

Tim (04:26):
uncles, Fred and Ray, and some of the local McFarland guys,
you know, old timers to me then.
Right!
But that's, that was normal.
That's how I grew up.

Stephanie (04:39):
Is Kivioa,

Tim (04:40):
Kivioia.

Stephanie (04:41):
Is that Finnish?

Tim (04:42):
Yeah.

Stephanie (04:42):
But you are Irish.

Tim (04:44):
the family history is kind of.
interesting.
I was told that, at one point, The nameConnors, a lot of people said O'Connor.
So I don't know if that was, maybein the old days it was like that,

Stephanie (04:59):
like if they changed it from O'Connor to Connor.

Tim (05:03):
the spelling, you know, everybody's gone now.
So I'm just now kind of getting backinto some of that, family history and,
But, but, several of my uncles, spelledtheir name differently than my dad did.
No kidding?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Our, my, the spelling of our namewas Connor, C O N N O R S, but my,

(05:25):
a couple of my dad's brothers and,certain ones spelled their name with
no S, so it was Connor, C O N N O R

Stephanie (05:32):
That makes tracking genealogy very complicated.

Tim (05:35):
I don't know.
Maybe they just Didn't know how to spell.
I don't know why it waslike that, but it was.

Stephanie (05:41):
So you were in this business with your dad.
I mean, you, like as a child,you grew up working with him.

Tim (05:49):
It kind of, if I wanted to be around my dad, I went to
work with him because he worked.

Stephanie (05:54):
Yeah.

Tim (05:55):
Constantly.
You know, he was in his truck andrepairing it or hauling or he, he,
he carried a chainsaw too, you know.
Most of the men I grew up around,my older relation and so on and so
forth were familiar with the chainsaw.

Stephanie (06:12):
When was, when did you get your first chainsaw?
I

Tim (06:14):
was about 13.

Stephanie (06:16):
And did you buy it yourself?

Tim (06:18):
Well, yeah, yeah, about a month from a place right in Scandia
called Headmarks Sales and Service.
And my dad had something to do with it,but then whatever I made by the month,

Stephanie (06:30):
So where did your family, like your dad's family, come from?
Like, did they take the boat over?
No,

Tim (06:38):
no, no.
my wife and I were justtalking about that.
that's part of our effortsto find out some of that.
And there, there, theredoes exist family history.
And, my uncle, Johnny Connors daughter,had Has done a lot of work with that.
In fact, I've been on the phonewith her here recently and Gonna

(06:58):
get some of that history and butshe's done a ton of work on that.
So she's like a Historian on that side.
So

Stephanie (07:06):
I love that.
I love that.
I love thinking about Youknow, how how did we get here?
How did we get where we are?

Tim (07:13):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, that's that's more important tome Now it's kind of strange but growing
up Um You know, my dad was born in 1905.
So, kind of too young for one warand too old for the second one.
But he, he lived through all thosethings in the depression and on and on.
And, and, so it was pretty basic.

(07:35):
and, they were, usedto make and do, really.

Stephanie (07:39):
Yeah.

Tim (07:40):
So, yeah.

Stephanie (07:42):
Doing what had to be done to provide for the family.
To survive.
Absolutely.
What was your mom like?
Where did she come from?

Tim (07:50):
Bark River area.
Schaefer.
Her name was Roscoe.
Her maiden name, my mom'smaiden name was Roscoe.
R A C I C O T.
And She was 15 when they married.

Stephanie (08:02):
Wow.
Yeah.
That is bizarre to think about.

Tim (08:05):
Yeah, it is.
Some of the things that, were kind ofcommonplace back then, aren't anymore.
Right.
So,

Stephanie (08:16):
So how old was your mom when you were born?

Tim (08:20):
Oh, let's see.
It was a baby of the family.
I think she would havebeen 30, late 30s, I guess.

Stephanie (08:33):
Okay.
So they waited a longtime before they had kids.

Tim (08:37):
10 years, 10 to 11 years between three kids.

Stephanie (08:41):
Wow.

Tim (08:41):
My, I have two nephews, that are, It's strange for me to call them nephews.
They're like brothers, I mean.

Stephanie (08:48):
Hmm.
You guys are the sameage, or near the same age.
My, my,

Tim (08:52):
my older nephew, Rod, he lives in Grafton, Wisconsin.
He's, a year and a half older than me.

Stephanie (08:59):
Hmm.

Tim (08:59):
And my youngest nephew is, about a year and a half younger than me.

Stephanie (09:05):
Hmm.
Yeah.

Tim (09:06):
And we grew up together, you know.
My sister's family, she hadthree kids, Rod, Gary, and Jill.
And, we lived pretty much next door toeach other our whole life, you know.

Stephanie (09:20):
When you were growing up, would you say that people
tended to stay close to home more?

Tim (09:25):
Oh, absolutely.
Like there

Stephanie (09:27):
wasn't this sort of, you know, Go out and explore
the world and see the world.

Tim (09:32):
No, the kids I went to school with, were kind of a group and,
everything kind of happened aroundMcFarland, at least in my family,

Stephanie (09:41):
you know,

Tim (09:42):
and we'd get together and have bonfires and, you know, we'd leave the
house in the morning sometimes and notreturn till, you know, Almost dark, you
know, and then find things to do and

Stephanie (09:55):
yeah.
Entertain yourselves.
Yes.
Be in the woods.

Tim (09:58):
And to this day, I, I don't need a lot of entertainment.
I just don't.

Stephanie (10:04):
You love being in the woods, don't you?
Yeah,

Tim (10:07):
that's pretty much life to me, you know.
I still, have some property thatmy dad, the last property he kept.
I'm still there.
I still.

Stephanie (10:18):
Oh, in McFarland area.
You

Tim (10:22):
know, cut grass and have an old deer camp, but, and there's some property
tied up there, a couple of forties,but my nephews, Rod and Gary have a
number of forties close, you know,within a mile and, We meet all the time.
Their kids, they all livepretty much in Grafton.
My nephew Rod's family.

Stephanie (10:42):
Oh, okay.

Tim (10:43):
Um, um, and Gary's family are all relatively close.
he has a daughter.
And Marquette, who just had a baby recent,not, pretty recently, in a year or two.
And, one daughter in Bark River.
And, I guess there's two, he has twodaughters in Marquette, actually.

(11:07):
One works for Northern.
The other works for aschool district, Holly.
Holly Renee.
Renee is the Works for Northern and,Amanda is a teacher in Bark River.

Stephanie (11:21):
Hmm.
So, when you graduated from high school,did you go straight into the service?

Tim (11:28):
pretty much.
About a year.

Stephanie (11:29):
Okay.
About

Tim (11:30):
a year.

Stephanie (11:30):
Were many of your friends going into the service?
What was that time like?
No,

Tim (11:34):
not really.
No?
Things changed.
that was, There was some turbulencegoing on, you know, Vietnam War.
I graduated in 1971.
Wow.
And it was, it was different, youknow, it was, went through all the
protests, saw that, you know, and things.
Yes.
It's kind of interesting.
Now, I, I have a, I didn't thinkabout it too much back then.

(11:57):
It's just, whatever happened,happened and, and, but now I, I,
I mean, I think you know this.
We're living through history and Iget a sense of that more and more.
So the things that haveoccurred are pretty major.

Stephanie (12:10):
So like your high school years, this Vietnam war, I mean,
did you have a television for you?
Oh,

Tim (12:15):
sure.
Um, Well, we had a television,I didn't have a telephone when I
was a kid, and my dad, let's see.
I grew up, we had a pretty, a two storyhouse, pretty big house, and, it burnt.
I was struck by lightning, actually.
Wow.
I was with my mom and dad in a smalltravel trailer in Little Lake, Sting,

(12:39):
and, In a spot right by the lake.
It was a little closer to my dad'swhere he was working at the time
and it was cooler in the summer.
I want to say it was I think it was July.
That happened and we were in thistrailer and the guy that ran that little
trailer park Came over and banged onthe door and I remember it clearly, he

(13:01):
said Morgan, your house is burning down.
Oh

Stephanie (13:04):
my gosh.

Tim (13:05):
My dad and mom and I got in my dad's truck and drove down to, pick up and
drove down to McFarland and just in timeto see the roof and the walls collapse.

Stephanie (13:16):
Wow.

Tim (13:18):
I was eight.

Stephanie (13:19):
Eight years old.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And,

Tim (13:22):
and so at that, my dad pretty much lost everything he had, burned everything.
Yeah.
Whatever we had was inthat little trailer.

Stephanie (13:28):
Wow.
Yeah.

Tim (13:31):
And so, that was, the first real traumatic thing I
recall, you know, I've watched.
To this day, I'm not.
I'm fond of fires, you know,I'm a little leery around
bonfires, even things like that.

Stephanie (13:45):
Well, that, yeah, that would be very traumatic at eight
years old to see your home imploded.
So, so,

Tim (13:51):
so, you know, I used to work with different groups and, I had a little
spiel and I'd tell them when I wasa kid, we had a fire in our bathroom
one night, but luckily it didn't reachthe house because, We didn't have
an indoor bathroom in that house.

Stephanie (14:08):
Wow.

Tim (14:09):
And that was fairly normal, fairly routine.
Yeah, to have an outhouse.
Sure.
And, running water, butno hot water, I recall.
Hmm.
Hot.

Stephanie (14:20):
Where would you get your clothing?

Tim (14:22):
where would I get clothing?
You know, from, I haven't thoughtabout that too much, I guess, Escanaba.

Stephanie (14:30):
Hmm.
So you have?
Well,

Tim (14:31):
now that you mention it, when I was young, before school started, in
the, in the early fall, we'd go toEscanaba and my mother would pick me
into one of them clothiers and I'd geta couple of changes of school clothes.

Stephanie (14:51):
Did you have like work clothes and school clothes?

Tim (14:56):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
work clothes were whatever Ihappened to throw on in the morning.
You know,

Stephanie (15:04):
I think this is funny.
This is like classic, like ourchildren and even me growing up.
You know, I graduated from highschool in 1991, so 20 years later.
we were consumed by what we were goingto wear, you know, we were like, we
have to go school clothes shoppingand we have to know what we're going
to wear on the first day of school.
And I mean, I, if that's likemale female the era differences

(15:28):
or like how and where we grew up.

Tim (15:30):
Yeah.
I just never thought aboutthat very much, I guess.
Yeah.
I think that's why I like,This morning, you know,
I'd be getting dressed and, or often,I'd get dressed to go somewhere and
my wife would look at me and say,You're not wearing that, are you?
And I say, no, . No,

Stephanie (15:48):
no.
You look very nice.
Just half found it.
. You look very nice.
Just found

Tim (15:52):
this and see it.
If it still fits, I I'mgonna wear, something else.
For sure.
Yeah.
, Stephanie: where did your time in the service take you?
Where did you go?
Oh, I was in for a short period of time.
there's a story behind that, but,

Stephanie (16:05):
well, tell us the story.

Tim (16:06):
well, it's, or do you not want to?
That was a different time.
Yeah.
That was, at the end of the war.
When I enlisted, we were the goodguys, you know, and it changed.
But, but I've been to, Europe and,Italy, specifically, and Spain, and,
points in between, across the Atlantic,and, the Mediterranean, and, Caribbean.

(16:29):
I've been to, spentsome time in Venezuela.
I was on a ship on a LPD.

Stephanie (16:36):
Was this the Navy?

Tim (16:37):
Yeah.
Yeah.

Stephanie (16:39):
Those are all beautiful places.

Tim (16:41):
Yeah, different, for me especially, but, but I, money and I never got along
very well, so I, I never had a lot ofmoney and I lived right on the boat,
right on the ship, and even when it was,when we were docked and, you know, and.
Norfolk, or wherever.
And, But when we traveled, often wewere anchored out in a bay somewhere.

(17:04):
When I first, got on the ship, itwas off the, off Naples in a bay.

Stephanie (17:10):
And then you'd

Tim (17:10):
take a landing, or a, a craft on and off the boat.
And when we went off it for whateverreason, I remember when I first saw that
thing, that was the biggest thing I eversaw, big gray ship anchored in this bay.

Stephanie (17:27):
Were there people that you knew that enlisted at the same time?

Tim (17:30):
No.
No?

Stephanie (17:32):
You didn't know anybody?

Tim (17:34):
No.

Stephanie (17:35):
Little, little, little young man from McFarland with twenty
one people in his graduating class andyou're headed off to the big bad world.
Yeah,

Tim (17:44):
yeah.
That was, it was different.
But I often, if, if we spent anytime in a different location, I,
I would kinda wander in countryand, and, and, I saw people.
I saw a lot of poverty in someof those places, you know?
So I recognized, I started to get a senseof it at that point where You know, I

(18:06):
don't want to say we were poor becauseI think a lot of places that I was in if
those folks would have been able to seehow my family lived and stuff they'd have
thought we were wealthy for that matter.
Oh, really?
But it, I think we were Money wasalways kind of a challenge, but I

(18:27):
never thought about it too much.

Stephanie (18:29):
You know, I

Tim (18:29):
didn't know, I suppose you could say we were lower income poor, but I
never knew that, never thought about it.
We were always active and

Stephanie (18:40):
You felt like you had everything you needed.
Yeah,

Tim (18:42):
I don't believe I wanted for anything ever.

Stephanie (18:46):
You know, I felt poor growing up just because there were five children.
And in my era, that wasn't as common,

Tim (18:54):
right?

Stephanie (18:54):
You know, I actually went to my 30th class reunion a few years ago and
this, this, one of my, my acquaintancefriends was like, well, we were one
of the last big Catholic families.
There was like five of us in this town,you know, so when you, you know, when you
came from a big family, it sort of seemedlike perhaps there was less to go around,

(19:15):
but you, you in your Irish Catholicfamily are only a family of three kids.

Tim (19:21):
Right, right.
it was different, because my sister wasolder, and, with kids my age, you know.
so, and, uh.
You know, I look back atit, my mom was sick a lot.
She was.
She had different, but I didn'tknow what those things were.
Hmm.
You know, she was pretty much ahomebody and didn't, didn't travel

(19:43):
very far and those kinds of things.

Stephanie (19:45):
Hmm.

Tim (19:46):
Or, I didn't see her at events very much.

Stephanie (19:49):
No kidding.

Tim (19:50):
And I, I, I, I don't know.
I have ideas about whatthat probably was, but.

Stephanie (20:00):
But nobody ever talked about it, right?
Not

Tim (20:02):
too much, no.
Yeah.
But, my sister, Valerie, whenshe was married, her husband,
Edwin, they were in Texas.
He was in the, Air Force.
So they were stationed inTexas for a while during the
Korean War, that kind of thing.
And, My brother, Mickey, Michael.
Some called him Michael.

Stephanie (20:23):
Mm hmm.

Tim (20:24):
Mick.
Everybody knew him asMick, except to my grandpa.

Stephanie (20:27):
Who?

Tim (20:28):
My grandpa, Archie.
Didn't care for that term.
He didn't?
No.

Stephanie (20:33):
Would that have been a derogatory term?
Oh, sure.
What, what would it have been

Tim (20:37):
Well

Stephanie (20:38):
attached to?

Tim (20:39):
The Irish.

Stephanie (20:40):
The Irish.
And your mom's dad didn't want that tohave an association, or your dad's dad?

Tim (20:47):
My dad's dad.

Stephanie (20:48):
Yeah.
Okay.

Tim (20:50):
He just didn't care for that.

Stephanie (20:51):
Hmm.
That

Tim (20:52):
was his Okay.
You could have called an Irishman a Mick

Stephanie (20:57):
back in those days.
And it would have been derogatory.
That, that, that waved

Tim (21:00):
back when they grew up, you know.

Stephanie (21:01):
Yeah.
Cause I'm sure that you're

Tim (21:03):
I've read some history, you know, about that.
And,

Stephanie (21:07):
What

Tim (21:07):
That's all changed, but

Stephanie (21:08):
So, when your grandfather was being called a Mick or like an Irish
person, it was probably Like, he wasbeing discriminated against in some way.
Well,

Tim (21:18):
I don't know if, I suppose that's true.
but back in those days, I don'tknow if that was such a, everybody
was just trying to make it.

Stephanie (21:28):
Yeah, yeah.

Tim (21:29):
And my grandpa did a lot of different things and, and, twelve in my dad's
family, twelve kids, as a matter of fact.
That's something that's occurringwith me now, they're all gone now.
And, but growing up, I knew all of them.

Stephanie (21:46):
Yeah.
And they were a family.
Part of your everyday life.
Oh, my grandpa's house

Tim (21:50):
was like my house.
I, I, I don't recall everknocking on the door.
If I went to my grandpa andgrandma's house, I just walked in.
And, my two uncles lived withmy grandpa in this house.
Uncle Fred and Ray.
That was my world.
That was my,

Stephanie (22:08):
it's interesting to hear you talk a little bit
about your time in the service.
And it sounds like you had sort oflike, you know, if we think about
the wizard of Oz and Dorothy, likejust, she wants to go home, right?
Like there's no place like home.
You had a really beautiful,full, growing up.
And it sounds sort of likeyour time in the service.

(22:30):
Didn't impress you?

Tim (22:32):
Like,

Stephanie (22:33):
like, that's, you know, like, Venezuela, going to Italy, and

Tim (22:37):
it was work.
It was a job, and it was, but I, itchanged, I was, out of boot camp,
I was supposed to, go to, A school.
They called it back in those days, and,the day we graduated from boot camp,
they changed my orders, and that changed.

Stephanie (22:54):
And you don't know why?
No.

Tim (22:56):
I, I think it had to do with, things were a little crazy
towards the end of the war.
I mean, I saw a lot of things.
I don't know.
I was seeing things thatI didn't understand.
I can tell you that.

Stephanie (23:06):
Yeah.

Tim (23:07):
And,

Stephanie (23:07):
Especially as a young man who, I don't want to call it insulated,
but you know, you had a, an area ofyour, you know, an area where you
lived and that was where you stayed.

Tim (23:18):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And, and I had a couple experiencesand different things in school and,
and I, you know, I look back at it andI think, the teachers we had, it turns
out they were very important to me.

Stephanie (23:31):
I

Tim (23:31):
didn't see it at the time, but I think of it all the time now.
some of these men and womenthat were instrumental and,
and instilled, certain values.
Life skills and things like that.

Stephanie (23:44):
Yeah.

Tim (23:45):
That, you know, I, I wasn't a very good student, you know, school
and I didn't get along all that well.
I think I did what I had to do to stay inthe sports teams and that kind of thing.
huh.
You know, keep a C average.
You didn't

Stephanie (24:00):
love school?
No,

Tim (24:01):
no, no.
But, the, the people I wasaround were very important.
And certain, certain people I grewup with and went to school with are
very important to me to this day.
We still get together, a numberof us, different times and, and,

Stephanie (24:22):
That's beautiful.
That's wonderful.
Oh sure, and it's just as

Tim (24:24):
common to see them and chat with them on the phone as we do.
You know, some of the guys I grewup with, one of my, you know, best
friend, is to this day, he stayed inhis dad's farm in McFarland and farms
himself, and, the Bryngrever family.
Yeah.
And his kids are close, and they're,so with his grandkids, they have

(24:44):
a, their farm is historical now.
They have a sign.
Yes.
They have a signage and things.
It's, and they, they havea, a cattle farm, I'm sure.
Mm

Stephanie (24:54):
hmm.
Mm hmm.
You know, it's interesting, that'swho I thought was your relation.
I didn't know that.

Tim (25:01):
Yeah.
I didn't know that.
It feels like that to me.
Right.
It feels like that to me.
I remember when, and, and, and, seemy, there was four of us that have
stayed together for many years, and,and that's, Gary Brungaber, Gary
Brungaber, Is that okay to say on this?
Yeah,

Stephanie (25:16):
yeah.
We can check with him and ask if

Tim (25:18):
he doesn't want to be named.
I don't think that would, but,you know, we're all pretty.
We don't get phased by toomuch, let's put it that way.
And, so there was Gary Brungraber and,Rod, my nephew Rod, and my nephew Gary.
And, so the two Garysmarried two twin sisters.

Stephanie (25:39):
Oh my goodness.

Tim (25:40):
Patty and Priscilla Wach.

Stephanie (25:43):
Two Gary's, two P names, twins, that's, that's a lot of connection.

Tim (25:48):
Yeah, that, when I, when I think of my family, that's who I think of,

Stephanie (25:53):
really.
Yeah.
That's really beautiful, and, yeah.
We

Tim (25:57):
stayed close, and I'm proud of them.
They, they, they've all, thekids are teachers and, You know,

Stephanie (26:06):
and

Tim (26:07):
everybody's hard workers and my nephew Rod built a, has been all
over the place and built a beautifulhouse in Grafton, Wisconsin and,
but he's, he's moved around a littlebit within the state of Wisconsin.
My nephew Gary, was a, became a CPAeventually and owned his own firm and

(26:33):
everybody's retired now and that kindof thing, but, except Gary, the farmer.

Stephanie (26:39):
Right.
You never retire when you're a farmer.

Tim (26:41):
No, no.
I, I saw him just a week agoand he was, he was selling a
couple of, head of cattle and.

Stephanie (26:50):
Hmm.

Tim (26:50):
And,

Stephanie (26:51):
I think it's so amazing.
And I might have the Brun Graber'son this podcast to the future because
I think it's amazing in 2024 to havethat like family farming legacy.
yeah.
And that you have been a partof sort of like a parallel, but
you didn't stay in the woods.

(27:11):
You didn't stay as a, well, that allchanged, you know, that all changed.
So you came back from the service,and then what was your job?

Tim (27:21):
I, I, I monkeyed around with odd jobs here and there, and worked for a couple of
different places, but all was, was aroundmy, either my dad or my brother, and their
logging trucks, and my dad, he worked.
A lot longer than I have.

Stephanie (27:42):
In terms of his age?

Tim (27:43):
Sure.
Sure.
And, eventually, I woundup with some friends.
When I talk about friends, there'ssome other people that have
been extremely important to me.
And, people from Rock and beyond, alittle beyond, but, The Van Dams and
Perkins that were, they had a big potatofarm and, and, that kind of thing.

(28:06):
And, and, one day, Gary Burngraver andPop Van Dam and I went to Milwaukee.
My two nephews, Gary and Rod,were living in Milwaukee and
had jobs and went to school.
Rod did anyway in Wisconsin and,we went down to visit him and kind

(28:26):
of play around for a weekend andwound up going to a discotheque.

Stephanie (28:30):
You did?

Tim (28:31):
Yes.

Stephanie (28:32):
Wow.
What was that like?
My one and

Tim (28:33):
only time.
Well, that was different.
That was,

Stephanie (28:37):
Were you all single at the time?
Yeah,

Tim (28:40):
yeah, pretty much.
Uh, Um, Gere, Gere wound up marryinghis little Gary, we called him,
my nephew Gary wound up marryinghis high school sweetheart.
And they were together and, andRod eventually married, one of
the, Westland girls from Rock.

Stephanie (28:59):
Diane.
That some people will know.

Tim (29:01):
Oh, absolutely.
You know, I mean, these,these are families.
I could say names, but they're like.
People I've known all my lifeand, and, and that kind of thing.
And, but, well, that's, thiswould happen in a discotheque.
Um, um, long story short, I glancedacross this place with lights

(29:24):
flashing in the floor and all that.
and I saw this raven haired beautyand, And, that was the last thing
on my mind, I mean, to, and I sawthis girl and I asked her to dance.
And, as a matter of fact, todayis our 49th wedding anniversary.

Stephanie (29:41):
Oh, my goodness.
Yeah.
Happy anniversary.

Tim (29:45):
Thanks,

Stephanie (29:46):
thanks, thanks.
Hmm.

Tim (29:47):
Yeah,

Stephanie (29:48):
It was love at first sight.
Yeah.

Tim (29:50):
For me, yeah.

Stephanie (29:51):
Hmm.

Tim (29:52):
Yeah.
I don't know what theheck she was thinking.

Stephanie (29:54):
Well, you better ask her.
Well.
I bet, I better ask her ifit was love at first sight.

Tim (29:59):
And eventually, about a week later, I moved to Milwaukee.

Stephanie (30:04):
You did?
Yeah.
Hmm.

Tim (30:06):
Yeah.

Stephanie (30:07):
Was she in nursing school then?
She

Tim (30:09):
was actually employed as a nurse.

Stephanie (30:10):
She was?
At that point,

Tim (30:11):
yeah.
Yeah, she wanted to be a nurse in heryoung years and that's what she did, and,
She called herself a three year nurse.
She graduated, became an RN, andworked at a couple of big places in
Milwaukee, and then eventually, afterI met her, I, I, I stayed in Milwaukee
for, I don't know, a number of months.

(30:34):
But I struggled in the city.
I just did.
Yeah.
Yeah,

Stephanie (30:37):
you're not a city, city guy.
I worked a

Tim (30:39):
couple different places and, I eventually came back to, U.
P.
And, had to do something different.
So I started to go to forestry school.

Stephanie (30:51):
I went to,

Tim (30:51):
Ford Forestry Center in Alberta, near L'Anse.
And eventually got in a, Associateof Applied Sciences, I think it was.

Stephanie (31:03):
So, that kind of school doesn't exist anymore, does it?
Well,

Tim (31:07):
the community is still there.
It was a model.
It was a sawmill.

Stephanie (31:12):
Oh.
Built

Tim (31:13):
by Henry Ford.

Stephanie (31:14):
Hmm.

Tim (31:15):
And, built the community.
It's its own little spot.
And, it was, it's historical, really.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That was quite a place.
And

Stephanie (31:24):
I know nothing of it.

Tim (31:25):
Yeah.
If you drive to L'Anse, you driveby there about nine miles or so
before you get to L'Anse, you know,Berkeley, Bergen, and the sawmill
is still there and still exists.

Stephanie (31:36):
No kidding.
For sure.

Tim (31:37):
and there's a little museum there and things like that now,
but it was a going concern.
I mean, there was, there was a communitystill there, but they made, that
sawmill produced board cars back in theday, you know, when they had, wooden
parts in the interiors and frames,I suppose, and things like that.

Stephanie (31:58):
Yeah.

Tim (31:59):
And when that phased out, Henry Ford gave it to Michigan Tech,

Stephanie (32:02):
pretty much.
No kidding.
Yeah.
All this beautiful history.
Oh yeah,

Tim (32:06):
lots of it.
The dorm I lived in, all that,all the lumber, all the, Building
materials came from that placeand it was gorgeous, really.
I look back and, you know, when I, atthe time, there were buildings and,
you know, and so on and so forth.
We had a, a nice place with a washer,with washers and dryers and bathrooms,

(32:29):
but it wasn't in the dorm I lived in.
It was in a different, separate building.
So that was just absolutely normal.

Stephanie (32:34):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I don't know.
Did Kathy come home to the U.
P.
with you at that time?

Tim (32:41):
no.
About a year later.
We married in seventy five.

Stephanie (32:45):
Okay.

Tim (32:46):
And, Did, did she mind?
We lived in L'Anse.

Stephanie (32:48):
You lived in L'Anse?
Yeah,

Tim (32:49):
and I was still in school, so I had to finish another year.
And she went to, she startedto work at the L'Anse Hospital.

Stephanie (32:58):
As a nurse, you can go anywhere.
Yeah, she

Tim (33:00):
did.
For a year, anyway, and, and then, Afterthe first winter spent in L'Anse, she was,

Stephanie (33:07):
Ready to go south?

Tim (33:08):
Pretty much.
And then we moved to Marquette.

Stephanie (33:11):
Okay.

Tim (33:12):
And, lived in Marquette for a year.
And then, we had our first child.
Whose name

Stephanie (33:19):
is

Tim (33:19):
Tim.
My name is actually Dale.
My first, my signature is Dale T.
I don't know.
But I've never been called Dale.
I've been called Tim my whole life.

Stephanie (33:30):
Isn't that interesting how that happens?
Yeah.

Tim (33:32):
I was named, I suppose, after a relative.
One of my mom's brothers, matter of fact.
Okay.
And, laughs So, So we had a babyand we lived in, an apartment
complex in Marquette and kidsweren't allowed, I guess.

Stephanie (33:51):
Oh.
So after about a

Tim (33:52):
year we had to do something different.
So my dad and I, we found some property.
We were looking around andfound a little place in Scandia.

Stephanie (34:00):
Hmm.

Tim (34:01):
And a couple acres and, and, bought it.
And, my dad and I, One day I walkedinto this little tract with chainsaws
and started cutting trees and hackingout a spot and we built a house,
had a house built and a little did Ithink that would be the only place my

(34:22):
wife and I really would ever live in.
So the place that

Stephanie (34:26):
you built when your son was born is the place
that you still live in today?
Yeah.
Wow.

Tim (34:31):
Yeah.

Stephanie (34:32):
And it's like a log home, right?
Yeah.
That's

Tim (34:34):
awesome.
Yeah.

Stephanie (34:36):
That you built yourself with your dad?
Well,

Tim (34:37):
no, it was a, it was kind of a kit home, but it, it was all local.
A guy from Gladstone had thiscompany and, and, it was all local
cedar and that was important to me.
That kind of thing.
Oh, absolutely.
And, it was all learning by doing andabout halfway through our project there,
then we had some issues and wound up.

(35:01):
I wound up finishing it, so I would,in fact, I was able to, have a
couple of my uncles work with us onthat and do some of the finishing.
My Uncle John was a carpenter and, Someof the things, a lot of it I finished and,
but one day, we had trouble with the roof,getting the roof on, getting it done,

(35:22):
anyway, and my, my buddy, Bob Van Dam,who's married to my cousin, Candy, who
was a nurse for many years in Escanaba,mover and a shaker in the hospital in
Escanaba, Bob stopped to visit me in onemorning and my roof wasn't getting done.
Long story short, he stopped,pulled in the yard and said,

(35:42):
Hey, Bob, what are you doing?
Come to see her.
I'll see what you're up to.
And I said, what are you doing today?
And he said, nothing.
Long story short, Boband I sheathed my roof.

Stephanie (35:55):
That day?.

Tim (35:56):
Yeah.

Stephanie (35:57):
You know, I think that's like so beautiful about community, right?
You have this need, you have thisthing that's not getting done.
.... Someone stops by, and thenyou finish the roof that day.
And that's pretty spectacular.
You'd have to meet

Tim (36:11):
this fellow.
Bob Van Dam is a pretty unique fellow.
He's still, he worked for Rampartafter he ended his .... Potato farming.

Stephanie (36:24):
Hmm.
He was in, like a,

Tim (36:26):
EMS?

Stephanie (36:26):
Yeah.

Tim (36:28):
Oh.
Worked for Rampart.
And, I think still does part time.
No kidding?
Sure.
Oh, yeah.

Stephanie (36:35):
Wow.

Tim (36:36):
And Bob has got to be 73.
And, active in the community.
I mean, well known.
Yeah.
Well known.
Yeah.
Sure.

Stephanie (36:46):
When did, I, I know you have a daughter as well, and I
don't want to bypass her story, butwhen did you have that big fall?
When did you have that big fall?

Tim (36:58):
I became eventually, after my wife Kathy and I moved to Marquette,
I wound up, in the local ,. Plumbersand Pipefitters Union, on local 414
out of Marquette, and worked a lot ofdifferent jobs and moved around in some
different places and that kind of thing.

(37:18):
And, eventually, I became a pipefitter.
I was a journeyman pipefitter and, and,I, I wound up in Quinnisec on a pulp mill.
It's been there for many years now, butit was under construction at that point.
And we were working in the, onthe boilers, that kind of thing.
And I worked with a couple of guysthat we did a lot of the high work out

(37:41):
of our local, working off the steel,hanging pipe, and different things.
And, on the, on a boilerat Quinnisec, I had a fall.
I didn't, I didn't fallfar, but eight feet or so.
And, end of a day on a Friday.
And, afterwards, you know, mypartner on the job at that point was

(38:06):
concerned, you know, and all that.
But, you know, I checked all my parts.
So I thought I was.
I thought I won because, a piece of wirecaught in the back of my coveralls and
stopped me from going a lot farther.
And

Stephanie (38:18):
you know, I checked my parts.
But you, on your back, right?
Yeah, yeah.
Like on a metal?

Tim (38:23):
On a grating, on a, I fell off an old scaffold we had made and uh, you know,
bounced off some things and whatever.
Checked my parts and everythingand I'm good, you know, I remember
looking over turning my head andlooking down and thought oh this
could have really been ugly and

Stephanie (38:45):
You good you got up from yeah, yeah

Tim (38:48):
and That next Monday morning I could I was having trouble

Stephanie (38:55):
Walking

Tim (38:56):
right?
Yeah.

Stephanie (38:57):
Yeah,

Tim (38:58):
and that went on for a couple of months and I'd see somebody You
and I remember I used to get somekind of injections in my back.
I didn't even know, I don'teven know what it was back then,
you know, some kind of thing.
And I would be okay the next day, andI'd be able to go for a couple, three
days, and pretty quick I couldn'tstraighten up and, and, no trouble.

Stephanie (39:17):
Yeah?
Yeah.

Tim (39:18):
So, but I, I didn't know really what that was.
But then the story changed, and, I woundup, in, Market General Hospital in a rehab
unit, in a drug and alcohol rehab unit.

Stephanie (39:36):
So, not rehab for your spine.
No.
But, yeah.

Tim (39:39):
No.
I wound up, in treatment.
And that's where I, I, I, I don'ttalk about that too much, but I,
I, actually when I was in that.
place for a month, I was in traction.
And

Stephanie (39:53):
I had

Tim (39:54):
no clue, and the fellow that ran that unit, doctor, who eventually
left there and became a psychiatrist,actually, he came in my room one morning
with a Envelope, big manila envelopeand put it on the bed and he said, well,

(40:14):
I got to talk to you about this Timmy.
I had gotten some x raysand different things.
And he said, you're all done.
And I thought they were bootingme out of this treatment program.
I said, wait a minute now, what did I do?
I'm trying to do the best I can.
And, and, he said, no, no, thisis your x rays from your stuff.
And I had broken down.

(40:35):
L4 and L5 discs.
That's what it was.
And, So,

Stephanie (40:41):
So, it was a physical, emotional, mental, My world changed.
Everything changed.

Tim (40:48):
And, you know, it's funny, not only did I not know what
was wrong with me, physically, Ididn't know what was wrong with me.

Stephanie (40:55):
And that's

Tim (40:57):
where I found out

Stephanie (40:59):
You probably didn't think you were an alcoholic, or?
No,

Tim (41:02):
no.
Yeah.
No.
No.
I had, it was just life.
Yeah.
I, I never.

Stephanie (41:07):
You grab beers, you go to the woods, you.
Yeah.
You get a bourbon, you.
Whatever it was.
You're at the, like, it just was like.
Yeah.
Incorporated into life.

Tim (41:15):
And, you know, there's an old saying, one's too many and a hundred's not enough.
if you look that saying up, Ithink they have my picture in
there, you know, kind of thing.
But, but I work, you know,I never thought about it.

Stephanie (41:27):
My

Tim (41:27):
wife, on the other hand, knew.

Stephanie (41:28):
She did.

Tim (41:29):
Oh, yes.
She's, in fact, you know, there'sa lot of people that I have.
I'll be eternally grateful for.
And, but the catalyst forall of that was my wife.

Stephanie (41:42):
Hmm.

Tim (41:42):
Without a doubt.
Yeah, well, I get that way too.
Stephanie, I But, you know, inretrospect, I want to, I think I'm
the luckiest guy in Two Legs, period.
But, you know, in reality, luckdidn't have a lot to do with it.
It was, It was my wife's tenacityfor her family is what that was.

Stephanie (42:07):
49 years today.
I mean, this, this islike a, like, yay, Kathy.
We love you, Kathy.
Oh, right.

Tim (42:14):
Oh, yeah.

Stephanie (42:14):
Oh, yeah.
That's amazing.
She was with you, like, through All of it.
Like, literally thick and thin.

Tim (42:21):
Yes.
Oh, yes.
Oh, yes.
And raised our two kids, and wasjust, you know, don't get between
your mama and her cubs, you know.
Yeah.
It's like that.
Oh, absolutely.
And I started to see that more andmore, but, but it was very clear

(42:43):
to me at that time had to be done.
I mean, it's not likeI had a lot of options.
I, and I was seeing what washappening to other folks.
And, and I, I remember clearly a daywhere I looked in a mirror and, you know,
reality hit me right square in the head.
And, I knew, I knew that I hada change, But I didn't know

(43:06):
how I was going to do that.
So, I did what I was told.
There was a crew at, in the treatmentprogram at Marquette Hospital.
That order, these people are,and were, so instrumental for
me that, what a crew of people.

(43:28):
I loved them dearly and they,they were good to me and, I
didn't feel like I deserved that.
Of course, you know, when I realizedwhat was going on and, unbelievable.

Stephanie (43:40):
Would you say that at that time that it was like an
embarrassment for you to go into rehab?
Oh, it wasn't a

Tim (43:46):
good thing.

Stephanie (43:47):
Yeah.
It wasn't a

Tim (43:48):
good thing.
And my wife, I mean, to workas hard as she did and She was,
and it, you know, it's not, itwasn't just my problem, for sure.

Stephanie (43:59):
yeah.
Your, your kids were young at the time.
Yeah, yeah.

Tim (44:05):
Yeah.
I remember, Kath took them toprogramming at the hospital also.
Hmm.

Stephanie (44:11):
I think

Tim (44:12):
it was called, as a matter of fact, it was called Children Are People.

Stephanie (44:14):
Oh.

Tim (44:15):
And, So I'd sneak by and Peek in and see what's going on and
that kind of thing and but you knowThe reality was it wasn't just me
changing and it this affected Everyone

Stephanie (44:28):
yeah,

Tim (44:28):
really From my parents To my kids to my wife my wife my kid, you know,

Stephanie (44:36):
yeah your wife your kids.

Tim (44:37):
Yeah My wife is

Stephanie (44:41):
It's not my

Tim (44:42):
wife.
I happen to be her husband.
That's the truth of it.
And, one day I was walking by a,this room and I could hear them.
They had this little song going on andthey were singing, I didn't cause it.

Stephanie (44:56):
I can't

Tim (44:56):
cure it, but I can learn to cope.

Stephanie (44:58):
And

Tim (45:00):
it struck me and I, I kind of adopted that.

Stephanie (45:04):
Hmm.

Tim (45:05):
And I started to.
try to be a little kinder to myself.
But that was difficult, you know.

Stephanie (45:12):
Yeah.

Tim (45:12):
because this, everything was my fault, so to speak, is in my head.
But I started to understandmore and, and, learned a lot.

Stephanie (45:22):
Mm hmm.

Tim (45:23):
So, so anyway,

Stephanie (45:25):
When that, when that 30 days was over, Then what?

Tim (45:29):
I stayed a little longer.
Yeah.
Yeah.
When the time came, it wastime to be discharged and to
graduate from treatment, you

Stephanie (45:41):
know.

Tim (45:42):
And, I stayed a little longer because I could.

Stephanie (45:46):
Yeah.
And

Tim (45:46):
they allowed that.
And, Quite frankly, I wasa little scared to leave.

Stephanie (45:51):
Yeah, absolutely.

Tim (45:53):
And, I didn't trust myself all that much, you know.
Mm hmm.
But, I did what was recommended.
Mm hmm.
And, it made a certain amount ofsense to me to do what I was told.

Stephanie (46:05):
Mm hmm.

Tim (46:05):
But I had some guys around that were, active AA members
themselves in that program.
And the, you know, people that workthere, and the staff, and some of the
ladies that were counselors and, nurses.
Mm hmm.
Were just so, so kind to me.
Mm hmm.
So, I remember that.

Stephanie (46:27):
And that changed the trajectory of your life so much.
Yeah, yeah, it did.
Yes, it did.
Everything changed.
You went on to school.

Tim (46:33):
Well, something had to be different.
I, my trade work was pretty much over.
So I, I, about a year later or so, youknow, the times get jumbled up to me.
Yes.
I had to do something different.
So I, at an, at a AA meeting, asa matter of fact, one day I, I,

(46:58):
I, told people, you know, I didn'tknow what I was going to do.
Okay.
Now I'm, I'm dry, you know, sober.
People think that when you're sober,that means you just don't drink anymore.
You don't use drugsanymore, that kind of thing.
And no, no, that's not, sober's a mindset.

Stephanie (47:16):
And,

Tim (47:16):
so I was dry, certainly.
And, I talked to people at ameeting and I said, I didn't
know what I was going to do.
I,
And, so I went around the groupand people gave me some ideas.
One of the people there who, wasactually one of my counselors while
I was, you know, in a small area.

Stephanie (47:35):
Well, right.
You're going to see people in theirprofessional life, in their personal life.
That's

Tim (47:41):
the way it was.
And, he said, his name was Von Wright.
He's pretty well known in there.
recovering community in Marquette,or at that time, certainly was.
He's gone now, but he said, I thinkyou'd make a counselor, and I just
looked at it, and I thought, what?
Yeah, right after I go to the moon,with the astronauts, I'll do that, too.

(48:02):
And, They offered, Northern offered,at that time, Northern Michigan
University offered a two year substanceabuse counseling associate degree,
and that was one of the quickestthings I could do to get a degree.
So I did that, and kind of fellin love with it, and then met

(48:22):
professors and instructors and.
There was just a ton of people.
I mean, some of the best folks.
and I did well, actually.

Stephanie (48:33):
You're, you're surprised.
Well,

Tim (48:35):
yeah, I told you at school that I didn't get along.
Well, I didn't see it coming that wellinto my 30s that, that would change.
Yeah, that you'd

Stephanie (48:44):
be going to university and getting this degree.
Yeah.

Tim (48:48):
And, I, I graduated from there and, they had a job fair
and all that kind of thing.
And so I applied and the firstplace I applied to interviewed me.
One of the directors, a womanby the name of Julie Murray.
And so she interviewed me.

(49:09):
And, I'd actually seen her in church acouple times, and I really didn't know
who she was, but evidently she knewwho I was, and that group talked, you
know, I guess, and she interviewed me,and we talked about a lot of things,
and Long story short, she hired me..
Work in the old man'shalfway house at that time.

(49:31):
One of the places was As you get off3rd Street going into 4th was back there
and Number of months doing that and getmy feet wet with a lot of the Paperwork
and different things and then The men'shouse combined with the woman's house

(49:57):
that was on 3rd Street, the Joan Curdlehouse specifically, combined and formed
what today is Great Lakes Recovery Center.

Stephanie (50:06):
Wow.

Tim (50:08):
So.

Stephanie (50:10):
And to this day, Great Lakes Recovery has an inpatient
unit for substance abuse?
Yes.
Yes.

Tim (50:17):
But it's different.
It's all changed now.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, I know.
They had a, there was a youth program.
back in those days, and a buildingwas built, an L shaped building, it's
close to the Northern's Dome, on 3rdStreet, kind of, and by the college,

(50:39):
and that became known as Project Rehab.
Project Rehab North, specifically,teamed up with one of the bigger outfits,
specialty programs down, placed downstatethat offered specialty programming.

Stephanie (50:52):
For substance abuse, specifically?
Hmm.

Tim (50:56):
And they had women's programs, and it was a big deal, and different things.
And so we did a lot of theirinpatient programming up here.

Stephanie (51:04):
Wow.

Tim (51:06):
And, A few years after that, the, the requirements for employment
changed and I went back and got a B.
S.
W.
Completed that, so, and then putabout, just shy of 30 years in for that

Stephanie (51:24):
place.

Tim (51:25):
And life, you know, That was my trade and, but that was my life,
you know, cause I was in thing.
And,

Stephanie (51:34):
and it

Tim (51:35):
wasn't all,
there have been somestruggles along the way.
so.
Do

Stephanie (51:40):
you still go to AA meetings?

Tim (51:42):
You know, I haven't been to a meeting for a long time, but,
I know the book pretty well.

Stephanie (51:47):
Yeah.
You probably could write it.

Tim (51:49):
Well, you know, I actually, I actually at one point stopped reading
it as often because it was routine.

Stephanie (51:57):
You

Tim (52:00):
know, so because of that, I didn't read it as much anymore.
I just knew it, kind of.
But it felt a little odd, so

Stephanie (52:10):
I

Tim (52:10):
stopped doing that.
So now I have to, but some ofthe things in that book that was
written in the 30s still are.
It just speaks to me.
And I, and I understood itbecause I grew up with older
people that lived in that era.
So that language was normal to me.

Stephanie (52:27):
Mm hmm.

Tim (52:28):
And that kind of thing.
So I, again, it seems fortunate.
Yeah.
But it's just what happened.
It was the way it was.
That's all.
and, and I gotta tell you,that's nothing noble on my part.
I just did what I was told.

Stephanie (52:44):
Pretty

Tim (52:44):
much.
And,

Stephanie (52:45):
Well, a lot of people can't do that.
I mean, a lot of people haveso many defense mechanisms or
excuses or fill in the blank.
Well.
So, for you to just say, well, Ijust did what I was told, I mean,
that's profound and that's how youget better by doing, you know, by,
what do they say, working the program?

Tim (53:06):
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's interesting.
And I, I, but I, it's not peoplethat are, are, real familiar.
And, with, with the, ideasaround AA, Alcoholics Anonymous.
I mean, how that whole thing started,I got into the whole history and,

(53:26):
and it's, it's quite a story.
It's quite a thing.
But, cause back inthose days, there was a.
A diagnosis.

Stephanie (53:36):
A

Tim (53:36):
medical diagnosis.
And the diagnosis To be an alcoholic.
The diagnosis was hopeless alcoholic.

Stephanie (53:42):
Wow.
Oh yeah.
The term hopeless.
Yeah.
Wow.

Tim (53:46):
And I didn't
You know, I didn't see myself like that.
And I've heard, I mean, some of the peopleI knew My story's pale by comparison.
I mean

Stephanie (53:56):
Mm hmm.
Mm hmm.

Tim (53:57):
So So I, and I was pretty young, really, to, to, when that

Stephanie (54:03):
whole

Tim (54:03):
change happened.

Stephanie (54:04):
Right.
To turn it around.
Yeah.
Yeah.

Tim (54:06):
And, I, I can't think right, you know, if I tell people, I don't talk
about that too much either, but, but,with, within a, a, a particular group,
they, they understand, and they know,and I know, and, It'll be, I'll be
clean for 40 years if I live to October.

(54:28):
Wow.
So, but I, you'll

Stephanie (54:30):
live till October.
Well,

Tim (54:32):
thanks to you.
Mm-Hmm.
, Stephanie . I mean, I gotta tellyou, I don't know if I'm talking
outta school here or not, but whenI think of doctors and things like
that, I think of you, you're, you'vekept me upright for a long time.
You know what?
And I know it right.
But, I don't, I don't break my armpatting myself on the back, because
normal people, usually don't haveto go through those kinds of things.

(54:54):
So, um, Well,

Stephanie (54:57):
you know, this is sort of like the, the cusp or the, the
why of my podcast, because I knowyou don't pat yourself on the back.
I know you live a humble life, but I thinkit's an amazingly beautiful historic.
lesson.
And I think that your storyshould live on and be documented.

(55:18):
And like, I think that there's,there's power and value in that.
Yes, you are very humble.
You would never pat yourself on the back.
And, you know, I know that your kidsare like, And the antithesis of you
being so content to be here in the U.
P.
and your beautiful log home thatyou built, they are like moving

(55:39):
and shaking and going and doing andlike all over the literal world.

Tim (55:44):
Yes.

Stephanie (55:45):
And maybe you wish that you had a little tether to pull
them, pull them home a little more.

Tim (55:50):
I'll be seeing my, my, son and daughter in law here soon again.
And he's been traveling the U.
S.
My, I'm extremely proud of my kids.
And grandkids.

Stephanie (56:03):
Yeah, I know you are.

Tim (56:04):
Well.

Stephanie (56:05):
You tell me all of their accomplishments and accolades and Yeah,

Tim (56:09):
my daughter's, Is a professional person that lives, About a home year
or so ago and Couple years with.
And, on the other side ofPuget Sound, near Seattle.
She, but she's worked for, theUniversity of Washington in Seattle
proper, and, she worked, at theUniversity of Wisconsin for a while.
She, she's a master's level and, worksfor a big company and she's, got a

(56:35):
position with the She flies all overthe place all the time, you know, in
the country and that kind of thingand has traveled extensively and
So I've been to the West Coasta number of times and yeah and
My son is a retired Navy chief

Stephanie (56:55):
So

Tim (56:59):
the difficulties I had in the service he He's even the scales for me.
And, Ahem.
So, And, yes, my, my daughterin law Jennifer is, So my
daughter's name is Jennifer.
I, I don't know, Iguess I didn't say that.

(57:19):
But, my, my first born is Tim.

Stephanie (57:22):
Mm-Hmm.
. Tim: And, my wife named him old.
Did you not want a second?
No, we didn't.
I, we were arguing about namesand I, she named him Tim.
Hmm.

Tim (57:34):
And, I gave him his middle name of Lee, so his initials are TLC.
And I thought maybe down the road thatmight lo large for, I dunno if that ever

Stephanie (57:41):
happened.
Whatever.

Tim (57:43):
And,

Stephanie (57:44):
How did, where did Jennifer come from?

Tim (57:46):
we talked about that a lot.
And, her name is Jennifer Lynn.
And,

Stephanie (57:53):
What year was she born?
No, don't say it.

Tim (57:57):
Just cause you said that now I gotta think about it.
Oh,

Stephanie (57:59):
well you know it's, I'm gonna tell you why I'm asking because, I'm
Stephanie Lynn and Stephanie and Jenniferwere like the most popular names in that
like early seventies, mid seventies time.
Like I mean, everybody was like Jenniferor Stephanie, Jennifer or Stephanie.
You don't see thosenames very much anymore.

Tim (58:20):
No, it's all different.
Well now my son's wife's name is Jennifer,but she's Jen and my daughter's Jennifer.
And there, oh, she's, she'sworth knowing too, Jennifer.
Jen is, Jen is, what a sweetheart.
She, the first one to text me thismorning to say happy anniversary.

(58:43):
Oh, and I love her to death.
She's just, she's sogood to me and my wife.
And, So they've, they're both retired now.
She's,
she's worked, she's educated also,and works on the, she worked in the,
fitness part of life, part of spectrum.
And, she's a workout demon just, oh yeah.

(59:06):
And, so they'll go, they'retraveling around the U S they've
been on the road for months now.
And, if they stop at a park, anational park, or at a, a certain
venue, they'll get out and hike.
I mean, they, they haveseen a lot of things.
Grand Canyon and all kinds of stuff.
so they've been on quite an adventure.

(59:27):
so, I have, three grandchildren.
my daughter and her husband,Nick, Nick's a carpenter.
They don't have any kids, butthey're active and busy and

Stephanie (59:37):
never

Tim (59:37):
stop, never stop.
And, I have three grandkids,from my son and Jen.
And, the oldest is Claudia,who lives in, near Denver.
huh.
she's married to Daniel.
and they are talkingabout starting a family.
And so, and,

Stephanie (59:55):
You'll be a great, great grandfather.
Hopefully.
Yeah?

Tim (59:58):
Hopefully I make it that far.
I don't know.
the second born is Matthew.
Matthew now lives in Dallas.
And, my youngest is Cal, Calissa.
Who actually just spenta couple days with us.
Aw!
Yeah, she's, Callie is, gonnabe a senior at, University of
South Dakota in Vermillion.

Stephanie (01:00:20):
Wow.

Tim (01:00:21):
And my son, when he retired, lived in Sioux Falls.
That was his longest, in his wholenaval career, that was the longest
place he ever stayed in from Newark.
See, he lived there for five years.
That was his longest.
Spotty State.
Time

and place.
Yeah.

Tim (01:00:36):
He'd been all over the country.
East coast and down southand Wisconsin for four years.
So I've seen a, I mean,I've seen country that

Well, I was going to say, you've visited all those places.
Yeah, yeah.

Tim (01:00:51):
So,

even though you love the U.
P.
and you're so content to be home
Yeah.
You've, you've been all over.
Yes.
You've visited your daughter in Seattleand You've been to South Dakota, all these

Tim (01:01:05):
places.
Oh yeah, yeah.
He, at one point, Tim and, Jenand, Claudia and Matthew lived
in, near Portland, Maine, a town,a town called Thompson, Maine.
And so they were, they werenear Portland on the east coast
and my daughter was in Seattle.

So, you look at a

Tim (01:01:27):
map, yeah, that's about as far as you can get and, in the continental U.
S.
anyway.
And, So I've seen a lotof things by virtue of

my children.
Absolutely, yeah.
Sounds

Tim (01:01:39):
funny to call them children.
They're

adults.
When your son is retired,he's still your child.

Tim (01:01:46):
Yeah.

Tim, if you had to, I want to sort of wrap things up like as
we're, I know, Kathy, you probablyhave many anniversary plans today.
You're going to take herat least to lunch, right?

Tim (01:01:59):
Yeah, we're going to do something.

Do some celebrating, but I know you say you wouldn't pat yourself
on the back, but I'm sure that ifyour kids were here, if your grandkids
were here, they would shower youwith compliments and tell you what an
impact that you've made in their life.
I'm sure they would.
Yeah.

Tim (01:02:17):
I don't think of that too much, Steph.
I know you don't.
I don't.
I, I, I, I, I think ofthe people they are.
And it's amazing.
It just amazes me.

And you know what I think is really profound and beautiful?
You talk about all these people inyour life, your teachers, that core
group of friends, you talk abouteven the people along the way.
in recovery and in the forestryschool and the first director who
hired you at Great Lakes Recovery.
But if you would talk about, or otherpeople would talk about all of the things

(01:02:52):
that you, Tim, did for them, I'm sure thatlist would be long, long, long, long list
of people who would say, you know what?
Tim did this for me.
Tim helped me in this way.
Tim did this, or he was my counselor.
And, you know, Tim is mydad, Tim is my husband.
So I want you today on your49th anniversary to soak up a

(01:03:16):
little bit of that love and,and be, be content and happy.
Which I know you are.

Tim (01:03:24):
I am.
Yeah.
To talk about this kind of thing,it's hard to keep a dry eye.

I know.
But,

Tim (01:03:36):
You know, one of the things I learned is you can't get out of your own skin.

You

Tim (01:03:40):
have to live your own life, no matter what.

Yeah.

Tim (01:03:44):
And, I think of the troubles.
I, I didn't mention it, but myfamily growing up, my brother
Mick, I had two open heartsurgeries by the time he was 18.

And

Tim (01:03:58):
I think of my parents.

Mm hmm.

Tim (01:04:01):
And What they faced.

Yeah.

Tim (01:04:05):
And, my brother, I don't think I ever met anybody that didn't like him.

Hmm.

Tim (01:04:11):
And, we were pretty

tight.
Mm hmm.

Tim (01:04:15):
And my sister for a long time was kind of like my mom.

Mm hmm.

Tim (01:04:20):
And helped raise me without a doubt.

Yeah.

Tim (01:04:23):
well, everybody in, when I look at that, I, I have no complaints.
I have no, when I look at life, Ireally have no complaints whatsoever.
And, but I, and you will fit in there.
For sure.
Well, that's just, that occurredand, and how, you know, I was not,

(01:04:47):
In the best physical shape, it's fairto say, when I met you, and that's
all of a sudden a long time ago.
And to come in.
I got a quick story for you.
Yes.
Valerie, right, and, I'dget a call, a reminder call.
She would say, this is WautierWellness calling, and, and she
didn't know this, But, I asked her,I asked her one day if she'd do me a

(01:05:11):
favor, and she said sure, what is it?
And I said, when you call and leave thatmessage, would you say, Tim, it's Val?

Mm

Tim (01:05:18):
hmm.
I want you to say

this

Tim (01:05:20):
is Val.
And she gave me a kind ofquizzical look and said sure.
My sister's name is Valerie.
Valerie sounds like my sister.
So, every so often, my phone would ring,

and I'd

Tim (01:05:36):
hear this voice say, Tim, this is Val, and it's been for years, like that.
what you guys have done.
I don't think you know that.
I mean, I don't know if you realizehow important you are to, to myself.
And that's funny, how that occurred.
So.
My life has kind of been like that.
People that I've met and thatcarried me through, I've been

(01:05:59):
carried for years by both.
So.

You know, it's so interesting.
I wanted to interview Val, and she,She's like, Oh no, I've done nothing.
You know, there'snothing special about me.
I know.
And I mean, this is, this is the thing,like, you know, there's famous people
who are probably horrible people.

(01:06:24):
And then there's like normalpeople who are amazing people.
And that's what I want to spotlight.

Tim (01:06:33):
Well, I've been, I just kind of feel.
Kind of blessed to know you guys.
It's funny how that's occurred.
Yeah.
And that's, and to come here to yourfacility and, and to see you guys
to me is, It's one of the thingsI look forward to, and I think Val

(01:06:53):
knows this, and I hope you know it.
I mean, I walk in this place,and whatever I have going on,
I feel better immediately.
But, you've been such a,such a blessing to me.
It's amazing.
So, when you said you were going todo this, and I listened to some of it.

(01:07:14):
This is a little foreign to me to do thesekinds of things really, but, Yes, so thank
you for stepping out of your comfort zone.
I'm, I'm, it's my pleasure, it'smy pleasure, to see how you do
this and people that listen to thiswon't see tears that I'm looking at.

Right?

Tim (01:07:32):
But, uh, you're the kind of people I want to know.
So, that's the way it is.

Speaker 2 (01:07:42):
Thank you so much for listening.
If you've enjoyed this podcast,would you please rate it,
review it, like, or subscribe.
You can find me on social mediaat WautierWellness.com, Dr.
Stephanie Wautier on Instagram, orWautier Wellness, Chiropractic and Massage
on Facebook, and I'm so curious whereyour next conversation will take you.

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A Life Rebuilt: Tim Connors' Path to Wellness | Conversations With a Chiropractor

A Life Rebuilt: Tim Connors' Path to Wellness | Conversations With a Chiropractor

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}A Life Rebuilt: Tim Connors' Path to Wellness | Conversations With a Chiropractor