KERRY TYMCHUK

De Love. Hello everybody. I'm so glad you have joined me on this podcast. Love someone with the Lai La. Have so much fun doing these and they just keep getting better and better in the conversations, more and more inspiring,

That would make me forty.

Yeah, we like that.

I'm sticking with it.

We are going with that now in the studio with us, but off microphone is my sister and your wife not the same person, not the same person. No, my sister Diana and your adorable wife Beck and there they're here. I think, just to make sure we tell the truth.

The whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Why what fun is that with some occasional diversions, The truth as we remember it, the.

Truth is I remember it exactly. So I'm going to be talking with Kerry Timcheck first that we're going to stop to talk about my sponsor, my wonderful, fabulous sponsor that makes this whole podcast possible. We're going to take a break here to talk about the folks. Of course, at the Home Depot, spending a couple of hours this fall on your yards will pay off big time this coming spring. The Home Depot's garden department has a big selection of fall lawn care products. If you like a

Aaron Aaron Dunn who worked on Broadway and now is in California. Just a lot of good talented people from Readsport. We had a great public school system. Did you know my late mother, of course, who was probably the best teacher in the district, if I say so myself.

She won Oregon Teacher through the Year the year. Do you have that in your little history things that the Oregon historically.

I don't have it every everyday.

We got to fix that carry. So I grew up across the field from you. Yes, when we grew up there was no house. There was a field that was the.

Can baseball, football, kickball, Yeah, you name it, we played it.

We played it in that field. Rode Bikes road bikes played in the dirt, and right across from my window was Keith's window, your brother who.

You occasionally flirted with.

Occasionally now and again, and your folks who were amazing.

I was blessed with wonderful parents. My dad was owned a small grocery store as you know, and Readsport and was mayor of the town for eight years.

And then your brother grew up and was a mayor.

There was the mayor too, and my mother was everyone's favorite school teacher. But they were very involved in the community and gave back, which I think was what inspired me to want to give back to my community. You know. One of my favorite quotes is the late Oregon Governor Tom McCall who once said that heroes are not giant statues framed against a red sky. They are individuals who say, this is my community and it's my responsibility to make

So that's what we're going to talk about today. You and your wife don't just give back to the community as in the neighborhood you live in. You give back to the community, the state you were born in, and our nation and the world at large. And you raised your children with that same ethic, that same core belief in giving back. And that's what this whole podcast is about.

Well it's been fun for a kid from Readsport, as I say, and just a quick, you know, one minute thumbnail sketch. After high school Readsport High School, Go Braves went to Wallama University in Salem, Oregon, where I went to college in law school. And because my dad was mayor, I think I had developed at early age and interest in politics.

Wait wait, wait, wait wait, you are the line leader, Harry. And like kindergarten, in first grade.

I ran for line leader. I campaigned for leaders.

And in high school you ran our high school. So with some help from others, so you included. So I was more the entertainment section. I mean, I was in high school politics. I held several offices, but my job, really, I felt, was to entertain this school.

And you did a good job.

You know, there's a stage I need to be on it, and we had so much fun. But I remember your campaign speeches from like eighth grade.

They worked most of the time, all of.

The time time you won every election you ever ran for.

And after when I was at Wellambat, I worked in the state capitol which is across the street for a family friend who was in the state legislature there. And then I first year ot of law school, I was a deputy district attorney prosecuting criminals in Marion County, which is Salem. And then I went back to Washington, d C. For one year. I told myself had potomac fever. I got hired to work for a congressman from Moregan worked for him for about two and a half.

Three years, so much for the one year play yes.

And then through good fortune, I fell in with Elizabeth Dole, who was then Secretary of Labor for the first President Bush, and she hired me as her speech writer, which added another couple of years. And then when she went to become president of the American Red Cross. Her husband Bob Dole, who was the leader of the Senate, hired me to be his speechwriter and do some legal council stuff for him. And that took me six more years back there.

So and how many books did you write? What the Doles?

I've helped the Dolls with four books, most since coming back to Oregon. But he, of course is blessed with the best sense of humor in Washington, D C. And he's still in ninety six. He's going strong. You know, he was a World War Two veteran. He goes down to the World War Two Memorial almost every weekend and sits and greets the veterans coming in to see the

Believe it or not, it's so funny because when I met him at an event at a radio of and he goes, oh, I hear your neighbors with Carrie. I'm like, how do you know that as well? We've worked together for quite a while now.

So when Gordon went to the broadcasters after leaving the Senate, and I became the executive director of the Oregon Historical Society, which is a nonprofit in Oregon which runs the Oregon History Museum. And every state has a equivalent. Washington has one, California has when you name it, they have a historical society, and we're the guardians of Oregon's history.

Hold that thought, Carrie. We're going to take a moment here to hear from one of our sponsors, and then we will be back with Carrie. Timchak Back with Carrie, Timchak on love Someone with Delilah and we were talking over lunch, and I want to get into this a little bit because I'm so proud of you. Some people want to color history or only to show one one truth. You and I are that way. It's a I'm that way.

You got to tell the truth. And we just opened up a new permanent exhibit, four million dollars, all privately raised to tell the Oregon story, the good, the bad, and the ugly. And there's a spoiler alert, there's some ugly.

There's some really not just an Oregon.

History, but in every state's history. You know, think that Oregon is now a very progressive, liberal state, but back in the day, not so much. And we tell that story. We tell the story of every ethnic group. Everyone needs to be able to find their history, their true history in the Orgon Historical Society. Whether you were a Native American or the grandsons of pioneers or Vietnamese immigrant family that moved there three months ago, you all should be

I love that.

And if the history is bad or awful or embarrassing, well then you learn from that. But you have to you can't hide it. You got to tell the story. And I've had some people who've gone through the exhibit tell me, well, that makes me feel guilty. I say, well, you know, you're not responsible for what happened one hundred years ago, but you're responsible for knowing what happened one hundred years ago and for not repeating it.

So you and your bride are also involved in a lot of charities and a lot of organizations and a lot of boards.

My wife is chairman of the beaverd And school Board. Of course, when you're chairman of the school board, it's a volunteer job, so that's kind of a full time volunteer job. And I've been involved a special a lot of time with Special Olympics Oregon, which you know, it doesn't get more of a life changing organization and Special Olympics to see the difference it makes in the lives of the kids within mutual disabilities and in the lives of the kids who help them out. It transforms them as well.

I think it transforms the kids who do not have unique dis abilities even more absolutely so. You had a blessing at birth and that your parents. I marvel at how your parents were so committed to our community. There was not an event that your dad wasn't at a meeting for, whether it was city council or school board meetings, or we had the Fleet Days parade that they always participated in and building the floats. Your mom was always always there helping us to do all of those things.

Well, if you didn't have that as a role model from your family, then you need to find a role model, or you can be the role model for future generations. You don't have to have had a mother and a father who or who were committed to making a difference

Well, that's your personality.

But I think a lot of it does come from growing up in a small town where you can make a difference. The former Oregon governor Barbara Roberts, who was the organ's first woman governor, she told a story one time about people growing up in small towns where when there's a parade, you build a float and then you ride in the float, and you ride in the parade. And then when you move to a big city, you

So we always thought you would be running for president one day.

Who knows?

Who knows who in America has won Jeopardy not once, not twice, not three times, but four time champion.

Now not Jeopardy James. I didn't do as well.

As he did, but how many did he win?

He ended up winning over twenty five or thirty or so.

Still floor is pretty impressive.

But politics, and frankly, Delaila, I thought that you're right that I would end up printing for office. That was always my plan once I became fascinated with politics, to come back from Washington, d C. To find a community, to be a lawyer, to get involved, and maybe one

So I'm not going to get to vote for you someday for president.

I don't, and that's going to happen so anytime soon. And if I did run, my wife with divorce me, so that would we don't doubt know so. But somewhere in that vast spectrum, people should give back to their community, whether it's running for the school board as my wife did, or just getting involved in the local rotary or Lions or any of those clubs. Go to town halls, become involved and speak up. The problem I think with politics now is that the fringes are the loudest and it's

Compassion, compassion, politeness.

Politeness, and those seemed to be in short supply. Let me turn the tables and interview Delilah for a minute. So what's the biggest lesson you took from growing up in a town like Wheatsburg? Because the town is so proud of you, and it all started out at Katieu in in fourteen seventy and Readsport, Oregon, and your brother was on the air. He was on the air too, so but so what's the lesson you learned?

You know, I don't. I did not appreciate or respect or value all the gifts we were given in that little town until my brother disappeared. Eight years after I graduated. My brother, your friend he went to high school with, Matt, disappeared in a plane accident, and the town turned out in droves to help for him and his wife, and the town never stopped searching. I mean, Duncan Jones, a friend of ours, went year after year instead of taking time off, you know, for a vacation. He took time

And one thing I learned, every community has the same thing you name the city. There are people like that who are blessed with people who who want to be heroes, who want to make a difference, and that has to continue. People have got to continue to be involved in too, want to make a difference.

Well that's what we're trying to do is get people involved, get them to raise their hands, say I'll go, I'll go to the student you know, school board meetings. I'll be a Girl Scout volunteer.

Right. There's an old joke that the word volunteer comes from two Latin words, vollin, meaning to knock oneself out, and tier meaning without pay. So that's to knock yourself out with that. Okay, yes, but God bless volunteers.

You know what my kids say, Oh no, I can't come on Saturday. I've been voluntold.

I'm going to steal that one, fair and square from you.

So you can use that. No, you're volunteered this week to go help out. That I think for me is the key is making sure that my kids continue that legacy of love and of hope.

Yeah, you get more than you give by volunteering. There's just no doubt about it.

Carrie tim Chek, thank you for being here on our podcast, Love Someone with Delilah. If you'd like to hear more about Carrie or from Carrie, google his name k E R R Y t ym c h UK. There's some great information, some great interviews. I know you're going to enjoy. If you find yourself in Portland, Oregon, stop in at the Oregon Historical Society. You could say that Carrie followed a few dozen whispers in his heart, but I think it comes down to having what is called in the