Gordon Douglass Timms

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Dear Classmates,

Greetings from the hill country of Greeneville, Tennessee. While I am here at home (which is rare), I wander about looking for things to do. Doug Timms is my name and Fiji is where my heart is. My wife, Pat passed away in 2001, and the four children are dispersed over the country, from Maine to South Carolina to Oklahoma. None have followed my footsteps in medicine, although Karen (my older daughter) is a nurse. She is the PIC guru in the largest hospital system in South Carolina. Dennis (my younger son) works for B/C, B/S in Tulsa.

Medicine, particularly anesthesia, has been good to me, and I practiced in Northern Maine until 1984 when I turned to locums because of my wife's health to avoid the bitter Maine winters (it didn't help). Now I have tried to go to even warmer weather—in Fiji it rarely gets below 65 degrees. I'm still trying to get a permanent license there to do GP (their modern medicine is just like we trained under way back when) but so far, I have only been able to get temporary approval despite even the Prime Minister's approval when I talked with him.

You may recall the last 13th Sabbath offering was for Fulton College in Fiji for relocation. While that was necessary, their most urgent need is for sponsorship of worthy students. All too often these students have to leave while only partially through their courses because the college can't afford their room and board. No work or money is available for them. So "Kuku's Worthy Student Fund" takes all my funds as I feel their training is more important than my personal fun. Therefore I am just sending my regards to our reunion as much as I was looking forward to it. Should any of you feel the same, the fund sure can help students remain in school (Fulton College, Private Mail Bag, Suva, Fiji). These students’ dedication to God's work is remarkable. The conference has little funds, so no new pastors can be hired. My boy, William, just graduated from the theology course and is now the unpaid assistant pastor to the Taveuni district of two churches, three companies and five- or six-branch Sabbath Schools. So life goes on; as we get older the work passes to the younger.

Here's hoping you remain young at heart although slightly older in other places, and God blesses you and yours with health and happiness.

Sincerely, 

Douglass Timms