By TCC President Margo Bart
Tim Carlson was the first voice to welcome me to TCC. As founder and coordinator of the Northern California Chapter (and past member of the TCC Board), he invited me into an organization that would command an important part of my life.
Tim knew everything, or at least it seemed so to me. He traveled everywhere, did everything, and even finished “The List.” I often ran my travel plan past him and valued his feedback. He was generous with his comments and never minced words. I remember when he referred to my tightly scripted Eastern Europe travel plan as a house of cards. “One upset in your schedule and the whole trip will fall apart.” Fortunately, everything worked out fine, but his admonition kept me on my toes.
JoAnn Schwartz and I took over as NorCal’s co-coordinators in December 2019. We knew we had big shoes to fill, and we do our best to follow Tim’s lead. In the years since relinquishing his role as coordinator, he’s been an avid attendee at our quarterly luncheons and he’s generously made himself available when I needed a sounding board for questions of travel or club matters.
We knew the years were taking a toll and his health was growing more fragile. A few days before Thanksgiving, Jeana, his wife, texted that he very peacefully drew his last breath. We miss him and we’ll do our best to keep traveling for as long as we can and make him proud.
