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 Timm Waller and Sharon
Noyd were chosen to represent Stromsburg for the ensuing year as they were
crowned King and Queen at the annual Swedish Midsommar Festival Friday evening
in the town square. Last year's King and Queen, Frank Samuelson and Marilyn
Holmberg, passed on their crowns and capes to the new royalty.
Attendants for the 2007 royal court are Amanda Giannou, daughter of John and
Cheri Giannou; Meghan Johansen, daughter of Kyle and Renate Johansen; Cael
Lundstrom, son of Craig and Kathy Lundstrom; and Colton Nuttelman, son of Greg
and Stacy Nuttelman.
The following
tribute was read by Timm's son-in-law, Eric Berggren
Timm Waller was born in the Stromsburg hospital on December
27, 1949, to Phip and Fay Waller and has lived nearly all his life right here in
“The Burg”. He grew up with the support of this community through friends,
aunts, uncles, grandparents, Boy Scout leaders, teachers and, of course, loving
parents giving him guidance and encouragement.
Timm attended Stromsburg schools from kindergarten through
12th grade and graduated in 1968. In school, he participated in band, school
plays, football, basketball and track and also played Legion baseball in the
summer.
One of Timm’s mentors was Leo V. Carlson. Yes, he was one
of “Leo’s Boys”. Leo challenged Timm to do well in school and gave him a chance
to see that treating people honestly and fairly brings you good things in
return. He also worked for Si Piper building homes and doing woodworking. This
was where he learned some of the carpentry skills he has used throughout his
life. For years, during the summer, he had a shingling crew and especially now
in his retirement business as a handy man.
After high school, he attended Kearney State College (now
the University of Nebraska at Kearney) earning a bachelor’s degree in math
education. Timm picked up education classes throughout his college career, but
intended to use his math degree in a field outside of teaching. But as fate
would have it, he took a teaching job in Fairmont, Nebraska, in the fall of 1972
and began his career in education.
In 1974, Timm started teaching math and physics in
Stromsburg and continued teaching here until retiring in May 2004 from what is
now Cross County High School after the merger with Benedict. In 1980, Timm
earned his Master’s degree in Math from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Later, he was one of the original UN-L “Nebraska Math Scholars,” a program that
gave Nebraska math teachers the opportunity to network with others throughout
the state while earning graduate credits. The goal of the program was to keep
teachers in the field of education. It must have worked, because that is where
Timm spent 32 years. Timm LOVES MATH, loves teaching math, loves talking about
math, loves doing math puzzles, and much to the dismay of many of his students
always thought math homework should come first.
During his career he saw many changes in the classroom. He
saw the computer, hand-held graphing calculator, distance learning centers and
much more introduced into the classroom. It was a great joy for Timm to teach
his own 2 daughters and to watch them pass through their junior high and high
school years from a ringside seat.
Timm took great pride in his students. He enjoys hearing
from former students on their visits home from college. They told him they were
prepared for rigorous college math classes and could compete with others who had
graduated from much larger schools.
Timm married Kendra Carlson on September 8th, 1972. Timm
and Kendra have 2 daughters, Joann and Emily, 2 sons-in-law (both with
Stromsburg ties) and 3 wonderful grandchildren. Joann lives in Gretna, Nebraska,
with her husband Eric Berggren and their sons, Ross and Carl. Emily lives in
Williamsburg, Iowa, with her husband Richard Andrews and their daughter Lilly.
Being “Grandpa Timm” is the best and he is finding more good things about being
Grandpa every day.
When Timm is not doing his retirement job of being
everyone’s handyman, he stays involved with civic organizations and church
activities. Timm is a member of the Stromsburg Masonic Lodge and serves as
secretary. If you are alumni of Stromsburg High School, you may know that he is
the man who, with the help of many, keeps track of the alumni address database
and has done so since 1987. When he started this job, his old Commodore 64
computer was stretched to its limits maintaining the records of the 1500 or so
alumni addresses.
Timm is a lifelong member of the Stromsburg United
Methodist Church. At the Methodist church, he wears many hats, including chef.
You can taste his handiwork tomorrow at the Swedish Pancake feed. Through the
years he has been a member of the Board of Trustees, Administrative Board,
Council of Ministries, and the Technology Committee, a recent addition to the
church. He has invested a lot of time learning how to use the state-of-the-art
audio/visual equipment with a projection and digital video recording system to
serve the Lord in new ways.
I’m sure that once Timm has recovered from this surprise,
he will thank you for this honor. I know I speak for the whole family in
thanking you for honoring Timm in this way.
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