Speaker 1: De Love. Hello everybody. I'm so glad you have joined
Speaker 1: me on this podcast. Love someone with the Lai La.
Speaker 1: Have so much fun doing these and they just keep
Speaker 1: getting better and better in the conversations, more and more inspiring,
Speaker 1: at least for me, hopefully for you too. The aim,
Speaker 1: the reason that we produce these podcasts, the motivation behind them,
Speaker 1: is to help you to understand that everybody has a gift,
Speaker 1: everybody has a talent, everybody has a skill, and hopefully
Speaker 1: we can create something together that's bigger and better and
Speaker 1: more amazing than your wildest dreams. If I can do it,
Speaker 1: you can do it. And our guest today on this
Speaker 1: podcast is someone who certainly used his gifts and talents
Speaker 1: and skills to make this world a better place in
Speaker 1: so many arenas. And it's like when he accomplishes one thing,
Speaker 1: instead of sitting there and basking in the glory, he
Speaker 1: moves on to the next challenge and the next mountain
Speaker 1: to climb. And I think you are going to be
Speaker 1: entertained and inspired when you listen to my friend Carrie Timchuk,
Speaker 1: who is our guest today. And I have known Carrie
Speaker 1: for a very very very long time. I mentioned earlier
Speaker 1: at lunch carry that my daughter Delilah Junior thinks I'm
Speaker 1: thirty nine, and since you were one year ahead of
Speaker 1: me in school.
Speaker 2: That would make me forty.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we like that.
Speaker 2: I'm sticking with it.
Speaker 1: We are going with that now in the studio with us,
Speaker 1: but off microphone is my sister and your wife not
Speaker 1: the same person, not the same person. No, my sister
Speaker 1: Diana and your adorable wife Beck and there they're here.
Speaker 1: I think, just to make sure we tell the truth.
Speaker 2: The whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Why what
Speaker 2: fun is that with some occasional diversions, The truth as
Speaker 2: we remember it, the.
Speaker 1: Truth is I remember it exactly. So I'm going to
Speaker 1: be talking with Kerry Timcheck first that we're going to
Speaker 1: stop to talk about my sponsor, my wonderful, fabulous sponsor
Speaker 1: that makes this whole podcast possible. We're going to take
Speaker 1: a break here to talk about the folks. Of course,
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Speaker 1: department one of my favorite places to be the Home Depot.
Speaker 1: More saving, more doing in the studio with my friend
Speaker 1: Carrie Timcheck. So we grew up together in a very
Speaker 1: small town in Oregon. And there's a lot of good
Speaker 1: things come out of red Sport, a lot of good things.
Speaker 2: Aaron Aaron Dunn who worked on Broadway and now is
Speaker 2: in California. Just a lot of good talented people from Readsport.
Speaker 2: We had a great public school system. Did you know
Speaker 2: my late mother, of course, who was probably the best
Speaker 2: teacher in the district, if I say so myself.
Speaker 1: She won Oregon Teacher through the Year the year. Do
Speaker 1: you have that in your little history things that the
Speaker 1: Oregon historically.
Speaker 2: I don't have it every everyday.
Speaker 1: We got to fix that carry. So I grew up
Speaker 1: across the field from you. Yes, when we grew up
Speaker 1: there was no house. There was a field that was the.
Speaker 2: Can baseball, football, kickball, Yeah, you name it, we played it.
Speaker 1: We played it in that field. Rode Bikes road bikes
Speaker 1: played in the dirt, and right across from my window
Speaker 1: was Keith's window, your brother who.
Speaker 2: You occasionally flirted with.
Speaker 1: Occasionally now and again, and your folks who were amazing.
Speaker 2: I was blessed with wonderful parents. My dad was owned
Speaker 2: a small grocery store as you know, and Readsport and
Speaker 2: was mayor of the town for eight years.
Speaker 1: And then your brother grew up and was a mayor.
Speaker 2: There was the mayor too, and my mother was everyone's
Speaker 2: favorite school teacher. But they were very involved in the
Speaker 2: community and gave back, which I think was what inspired
Speaker 2: me to want to give back to my community. You know.
Speaker 2: One of my favorite quotes is the late Oregon Governor
Speaker 2: Tom McCall who once said that heroes are not giant
Speaker 2: statues framed against a red sky. They are individuals who say,
Speaker 2: this is my community and it's my responsibility to make
Speaker 2: it better. And my parents were heroes, and reid Sport
Speaker 2: was blessed with a lot of heroes back then who
Speaker 2: gave themselves, who gave their time. We were talking some
Speaker 2: at lunch today of Jim and Marrionnwell's who are teachers
Speaker 2: of ours and their heroes too, because they still in
Speaker 2: the retirement give back to the community.
Speaker 1: So that's what we're going to talk about today. You
Speaker 1: and your wife don't just give back to the community
Speaker 1: as in the neighborhood you live in. You give back
Speaker 1: to the community, the state you were born in, and
Speaker 1: our nation and the world at large. And you raised
Speaker 1: your children with that same ethic, that same core belief
Speaker 1: in giving back. And that's what this whole podcast is about.
Speaker 1: So I'm going to pick your brain here and we're
Speaker 1: going to tell some amazing stories because you have had
Speaker 1: such a colorful, wonderful, amazing journey.
Speaker 2: Well it's been fun for a kid from Readsport, as
Speaker 2: I say, and just a quick, you know, one minute
Speaker 2: thumbnail sketch. After high school Readsport High School, Go Braves
Speaker 2: went to Wallama University in Salem, Oregon, where I went
Speaker 2: to college in law school. And because my dad was mayor,
Speaker 2: I think I had developed at early age and interest
Speaker 2: in politics.
Speaker 1: Wait wait, wait, wait wait, you are the line leader, Harry.
Speaker 1: And like kindergarten, in first grade.
Speaker 2: I ran for line leader. I campaigned for leaders.
Speaker 1: And in high school you ran our high school. So
Speaker 1: with some help from others, so you included. So I
Speaker 1: was more the entertainment section. I mean, I was in
Speaker 1: high school politics. I held several offices, but my job, really,
Speaker 1: I felt, was to entertain this school.
Speaker 2: And you did a good job.
Speaker 1: You know, there's a stage I need to be on it,
Speaker 1: and we had so much fun. But I remember your
Speaker 1: campaign speeches from like eighth grade.
Speaker 2: They worked most of the time, all of.
Speaker 1: The time time you won every election you ever ran for.
Speaker 2: And after when I was at Wellambat, I worked in
Speaker 2: the state capitol which is across the street for a
Speaker 2: family friend who was in the state legislature there. And
Speaker 2: then I first year ot of law school, I was
Speaker 2: a deputy district attorney prosecuting criminals in Marion County, which
Speaker 2: is Salem. And then I went back to Washington, d C.
Speaker 2: For one year. I told myself had potomac fever. I
Speaker 2: got hired to work for a congressman from Moregan worked
Speaker 2: for him for about two and a half.
Speaker 1: Three years, so much for the one year play yes.
Speaker 2: And then through good fortune, I fell in with Elizabeth Dole,
Speaker 2: who was then Secretary of Labor for the first President Bush,
Speaker 2: and she hired me as her speech writer, which added
Speaker 2: another couple of years. And then when she went to
Speaker 2: become president of the American Red Cross. Her husband Bob Dole,
Speaker 2: who was the leader of the Senate, hired me to
Speaker 2: be his speechwriter and do some legal council stuff for him.
Speaker 2: And that took me six more years back there.
Speaker 1: So and how many books did you write? What the Doles?
Speaker 2: I've helped the Dolls with four books, most since coming
Speaker 2: back to Oregon. But he, of course is blessed with
Speaker 2: the best sense of humor in Washington, D C. And
Speaker 2: he's still in ninety six. He's going strong. You know,
Speaker 2: he was a World War Two veteran. He goes down
Speaker 2: to the World War Two Memorial almost every weekend and
Speaker 2: sits and greets the veterans coming in to see the
Speaker 2: World War Two Memorial Wow, which is amazing. So eleven
Speaker 2: years in Washington, D C. And then returned to Oregon
Speaker 2: in nineteen ninety seven and was twelve years as the
Speaker 2: Oregon Chief of staff to a fellow named Gordon Smith,
Speaker 2: who was you Oregon's US Senator for twelve years and
Speaker 2: who you know now, Delilah as the CEO of the
Speaker 2: National Association of Broadcasters.
Speaker 1: Believe it or not, it's so funny because when I
Speaker 1: met him at an event at a radio of and
Speaker 1: he goes, oh, I hear your neighbors with Carrie. I'm like,
Speaker 1: how do you know that as well? We've worked together
Speaker 1: for quite a while now.
Speaker 2: So when Gordon went to the broadcasters after leaving the Senate,
Speaker 2: and I became the executive director of the Oregon Historical Society,
Speaker 2: which is a nonprofit in Oregon which runs the Oregon
Speaker 2: History Museum. And every state has a equivalent. Washington has one,
Speaker 2: California has when you name it, they have a historical society,
Speaker 2: and we're the guardians of Oregon's history.
Speaker 1: Hold that thought, Carrie. We're going to take a moment
Speaker 1: here to hear from one of our sponsors, and then
Speaker 1: we will be back with Carrie. Timchak Back with Carrie,
Speaker 1: Timchak on love Someone with Delilah and we were talking
Speaker 1: over lunch, and I want to get into this a
Speaker 1: little bit because I'm so proud of you. Some people
Speaker 1: want to color history or only to show one one truth.
Speaker 1: You and I are that way. It's a I'm that way.
Speaker 1: I never let the truth interfere with a good story,
Speaker 1: but when it comes to history, it's important to know
Speaker 1: the truth.
Speaker 2: You got to tell the truth. And we just opened
Speaker 2: up a new permanent exhibit, four million dollars, all privately
Speaker 2: raised to tell the Oregon story, the good, the bad,
Speaker 2: and the ugly. And there's a spoiler alert, there's some ugly.
Speaker 1: There's some really not just an Oregon.
Speaker 2: History, but in every state's history. You know, think that
Speaker 2: Oregon is now a very progressive, liberal state, but back
Speaker 2: in the day, not so much. And we tell that story.
Speaker 2: We tell the story of every ethnic group. Everyone needs
Speaker 2: to be able to find their history, their true history
Speaker 2: in the Orgon Historical Society. Whether you were a Native
Speaker 2: American or the grandsons of pioneers or Vietnamese immigrant family
Speaker 2: that moved there three months ago, you all should be
Speaker 2: able to find your true story. And that's what we
Speaker 2: try to do.
Speaker 1: I love that.
Speaker 2: And if the history is bad or awful or embarrassing,
Speaker 2: well then you learn from that. But you have to
Speaker 2: you can't hide it. You got to tell the story.
Speaker 2: And I've had some people who've gone through the exhibit
Speaker 2: tell me, well, that makes me feel guilty. I say, well,
Speaker 2: you know, you're not responsible for what happened one hundred
Speaker 2: years ago, but you're responsible for knowing what happened one
Speaker 2: hundred years ago and for not repeating it.
Speaker 1: So you and your bride are also involved in a
Speaker 1: lot of charities and a lot of organizations and a
Speaker 1: lot of boards.
Speaker 2: My wife is chairman of the beaverd And school Board.
Speaker 2: Of course, when you're chairman of the school board, it's
Speaker 2: a volunteer job, so that's kind of a full time
Speaker 2: volunteer job. And I've been involved a special a lot
Speaker 2: of time with Special Olympics Oregon, which you know, it
Speaker 2: doesn't get more of a life changing organization and Special
Speaker 2: Olympics to see the difference it makes in the lives
Speaker 2: of the kids within mutual disabilities and in the lives
Speaker 2: of the kids who help them out. It transforms them
Speaker 2: as well.
Speaker 1: I think it transforms the kids who do not have
Speaker 1: unique dis abilities even more absolutely so. You had a
Speaker 1: blessing at birth and that your parents. I marvel at
Speaker 1: how your parents were so committed to our community. There
Speaker 1: was not an event that your dad wasn't at a
Speaker 1: meeting for, whether it was city council or school board meetings,
Speaker 1: or we had the Fleet Days parade that they always
Speaker 1: participated in and building the floats. Your mom was always
Speaker 1: always there helping us to do all of those things.
Speaker 1: And so you were kind of raised with that environment
Speaker 1: or that legacy of community and giving back. But what
Speaker 1: about people who didn't have that kind of foundation. What
Speaker 1: would you say to them, Carrie today, Just.
Speaker 2: Well, if you didn't have that as a role model
Speaker 2: from your family, then you need to find a role model,
Speaker 2: or you can be the role model for future generations.
Speaker 2: You don't have to have had a mother and a
Speaker 2: father who or who were committed to making a difference
Speaker 2: to want to make a difference yourself. You know, I
Speaker 2: admit I was blessed because of that, But even if
Speaker 2: they hadn't been involved, maybe there's something in me would
Speaker 2: have been you know, there's a there would have been
Speaker 2: a light that would have driven me to want to
Speaker 2: help people.
Speaker 1: Well, that's your personality.
Speaker 2: But I think a lot of it does come from
Speaker 2: growing up in a small town where you can make
Speaker 2: a difference. The former Oregon governor Barbara Roberts, who was
Speaker 2: the organ's first woman governor, she told a story one
Speaker 2: time about people growing up in small towns where when
Speaker 2: there's a parade, you build a float and then you
Speaker 2: ride in the float, and you ride in the parade.
Speaker 2: And then when you move to a big city, you
Speaker 2: might become overwhelmed. But what you need to do is
Speaker 2: still build the float right in the float, right in
Speaker 2: the parade. Even a big city, there's a chance to
Speaker 2: make a difference as well, which is what I've tried
Speaker 2: to do going from Reedsport to Washington, c To Portland.
Speaker 2: Just adjust accordingly.
Speaker 1: So we always thought you would be running for president
Speaker 1: one day.
Speaker 2: Who knows?
Speaker 1: Who knows who in America has won Jeopardy not once,
Speaker 1: not twice, not three times, but four time champion.
Speaker 2: Now not Jeopardy James. I didn't do as well.
Speaker 1: As he did, but how many did he win?
Speaker 2: He ended up winning over twenty five or thirty or so.
Speaker 1: Still floor is pretty impressive.
Speaker 2: But politics, and frankly, Delaila, I thought that you're right
Speaker 2: that I would end up printing for office. That was
Speaker 2: always my plan once I became fascinated with politics, to
Speaker 2: come back from Washington, d C. To find a community,
Speaker 2: to be a lawyer, to get involved, and maybe one
Speaker 2: day to run for office. And ended up not doing that,
Speaker 2: partially because I was fortunate enough and to see it
Speaker 2: at the level I got to see it at, but
Speaker 2: also because I think I decided that I didn't have
Speaker 2: the personality for modern day warfare politics, with all that
Speaker 2: the backstabbing and the name calling and the partisanship that
Speaker 2: has now enveloped politics, especially in this time. Yeah, and
Speaker 2: you know, people now are Republicans first and American second,
Speaker 2: or Democrats first and American second, and it's got to
Speaker 2: be switched. They need to be Americans first, and then
Speaker 2: you're a party. But the parties have almost become cults
Speaker 2: in some way, where you listen to the party first
Speaker 2: and take orders from your party, whether doing what you
Speaker 2: really believe in.
Speaker 1: So I'm not going to get to vote for you
Speaker 1: someday for president.
Speaker 2: I don't, and that's going to happen so anytime soon.
Speaker 2: And if I did run, my wife with divorce me,
Speaker 2: so that would we don't doubt know so. But somewhere
Speaker 2: in that vast spectrum, people should give back to their community,
Speaker 2: whether it's running for the school board as my wife did,
Speaker 2: or just getting involved in the local rotary or Lions
Speaker 2: or any of those clubs. Go to town halls, become
Speaker 2: involved and speak up. The problem I think with politics
Speaker 2: now is that the fringes are the loudest and it's
Speaker 2: the vast group in the middle who are silent. Civility
Speaker 2: and decency still matter. That's the two most important qualities
Speaker 2: I think of public servants are civility, decency, honesty.
Speaker 1: Compassion, compassion, politeness.
Speaker 2: Politeness, and those seemed to be in short supply. Let
Speaker 2: me turn the tables and interview Delilah for a minute.
Speaker 2: So what's the biggest lesson you took from growing up
Speaker 2: in a town like Wheatsburg? Because the town is so
Speaker 2: proud of you, and it all started out at Katieu
Speaker 2: in in fourteen seventy and Readsport, Oregon, and your brother
Speaker 2: was on the air. He was on the air too,
Speaker 2: so but so what's the lesson you learned?
Speaker 1: You know, I don't. I did not appreciate or respect
Speaker 1: or value all the gifts we were given in that
Speaker 1: little town until my brother disappeared. Eight years after I graduated.
Speaker 1: My brother, your friend he went to high school with, Matt,
Speaker 1: disappeared in a plane accident, and the town turned out
Speaker 1: in droves to help for him and his wife, and
Speaker 1: the town never stopped searching. I mean, Duncan Jones, a
Speaker 1: friend of ours, went year after year instead of taking
Speaker 1: time off, you know, for a vacation. He took time
Speaker 1: off and went and looked for my brother's plane. And
Speaker 1: it was that experience, And it was seeing the casse
Speaker 1: Roles show up at the house, you know, somebody would
Speaker 1: knock at the door and there would be a box
Speaker 1: of hot food left there. That was when it clicked
Speaker 1: for me what a blessing I had been given, you know.
Speaker 1: And then as my career took off and I people like,
Speaker 1: well when did you get your start? I was fourteen?
Speaker 1: Where else but in a tiny town do you have
Speaker 1: people like Steve Kanegian, Jerome Kannagian, Wes Locker that say, yeah,
Speaker 1: a fourteen year old can come in, we'll teach you
Speaker 1: how to use the microphone and the equipment. And so
Speaker 1: from the time Matt's plane went down until today, I
Speaker 1: just grow more and more appreciative of what a blessed
Speaker 1: community we had.
Speaker 2: And one thing I learned, every community has the same
Speaker 2: thing you name the city. There are people like that
Speaker 2: who are blessed with people who who want to be heroes,
Speaker 2: who want to make a difference, and that has to continue.
Speaker 2: People have got to continue to be involved in too,
Speaker 2: want to make a difference.
Speaker 1: Well that's what we're trying to do is get people involved,
Speaker 1: get them to raise their hands, say I'll go, I'll
Speaker 1: go to the student you know, school board meetings. I'll
Speaker 1: be a Girl Scout volunteer.
Speaker 2: Right. There's an old joke that the word volunteer comes
Speaker 2: from two Latin words, vollin, meaning to knock oneself out,
Speaker 2: and tier meaning without pay. So that's to knock yourself
Speaker 2: out with that. Okay, yes, but God bless volunteers.
Speaker 1: You know what my kids say, Oh no, I can't
Speaker 1: come on Saturday. I've been voluntold.
Speaker 2: I'm going to steal that one, fair and square from you.
Speaker 1: So you can use that. No, you're volunteered this week
Speaker 1: to go help out. That I think for me is
Speaker 1: the key is making sure that my kids continue that
Speaker 1: legacy of love and of hope.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you get more than you give by volunteering. There's
Speaker 2: just no doubt about it.
Speaker 1: Carrie tim Chek, thank you for being here on our podcast,
Speaker 1: Love Someone with Delilah. If you'd like to hear more
Speaker 1: about Carrie or from Carrie, google his name k E
Speaker 1: R R Y t ym c h UK. There's some
Speaker 1: great information, some great interviews. I know you're going to enjoy.
Speaker 1: If you find yourself in Portland, Oregon, stop in at
Speaker 1: the Oregon Historical Society. You could say that Carrie followed
Speaker 1: a few dozen whispers in his heart, but I think
Speaker 1: it comes down to having what is called in the
Speaker 1: book Dare to Matter, a prepared heart. His family were
Speaker 1: never ones to sit on their hands or wait for
Speaker 1: change to happen. They modeled passion and involvement to Carrie
Speaker 1: and his brother Keith, who have in turn modeled it
Speaker 1: to their family and children. I'm proud to call Carry
Speaker 1: my friend. I hope this story has inspired you, my friend.
Speaker 1: What things have you wanted to do and yet have
Speaker 1: not approached, have not raised your hand, have not said yes?
Speaker 1: Let me try that. Start from a small idea, from
Speaker 1: that small seed, and let it grow and blossom into
Speaker 1: something big and beautiful, one heart at a time.