KERRY TYMCHUK

Published Sep 24, 2019, 3:37 PM

Today I welcome a guest into my studio who has spent his life in public service. Once upon a childhood, he was my neighbor, my classmate, and my friend. Today he is everyone's neighbor and friend. Kerry Tymchuk has worn many professional hats - first as a young public prosecutor, then on to several roles in Washington DC, and then back to Oregon where he is now the Director of the Oregon Historical Society.

He's the son of a small town merchant/mayor, and a teacher; their attendance at every community meeting and event were almost guaranteed. Kerry, and his brother Keith, grew up with that ideal of service and have now become the models their parents once were. Keith (who I may have had a little tiny crush on...) became a teacher and returned to our home town where he too has served as mayor, and together with his wife, Jennifer (also a teacher), and children, are enmeshed in the fabric of the community. 

In between official roles, Kerry has co-written 8 books with individuals who have had big impacts on our world, became a 4 time Jeopardy! champion, and served on numerous boards and causes, his favorite being the Special Olympics.  He is a husband to another mover and shaker, Becky, who is the president of their local school board, and a father to two young adults just now making their way in the world. 

His message to us? Find your place to serve, you always get more than you give! And please remember, "civility and decency still matter."  Thank you for joining us today, I hope you feel inspired! ~ Delilah

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Hello everybody. I'm so glad you have joined me on this podcast. Loves someone with the la Lah have so much fun doing these uh, And they just keep getting better and better and the conversations more and more inspiring, at least for me, hopefully for you too. The aim, the reason that we produce these podcasts, the motivation behind them, is to help you to understand that everybody has a gift, everybody has a talent, everybody has a skill, and hopefully we can create something together that's bigger and better and more amazing than your wildest dreams. If I can do it, you can do it. And our guests today on this podcast is someone who certainly used his gifts and talents and skills to make this world a better place in so many arenas. And it's like, uh, when he accomplishes one thing, instead of sitting there and basking in the glory, he moves on to the next challenge and the next mountain to climb. And I think you are going to be entertained and inspired when you listen to my friend Carry Tim Check, who is our guest today, and I have known Carry for a very very very long time. I mentioned earlier at lunch carry that my daughter Delilah Jr. Thinks I'm thirty nine and since you were one year ahead of me in school, that would make me forty. Yeah, we like that. 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 Dianna and your adorable wife back and they are 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 is we remember it. The truth is we remember it exactly. So I'm gonna be talking with Carrie tim Check 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 beautiful green yard, you plan for it now by putting the best nutrients in your yard before the weather turns that way next spring and summer. You've got a headstart on making your yard beautiful. The home Depots, garden department one of my favorite places to be the home Depot, more saving, more doing in the studio with my friend Carrie tim Check. So we grew up together in a very small town in Oregon. And there's a lot of good things come out of red Sport, a lot of good things. Aaron Aaron Dunn who worked on Broadway and now I was in California. Just a lot of good talented people from red Sport. 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 the Year. Do you have that in your little history things that the Oregon historically, I don't have it. Everything. We gotta fix that, Carrie. 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, you name it, we played it. We played it in that field. Road bikes. Road bikes played in the dirt and right across from my window was Keith's window, your brother who 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 read Sport and was mayor of the town for eight years. And then your brother grew up and was a mayor that 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. Uh. You know, one of my favorite quotes is uh the late Oregon governor to McCall who once said that heroes are not giant statues framed against the red sky. They are individuals who say, this is my community and it's my responsibility to make it better. And my parents were heroes and and and read support. Was blessed with a lot of heroes back then who who gave it themselves, who gave their time. We were talking some lunch to day of Jim and Maryann Wells, who are teachers of ours and their heroes too, because they still in the retirement give back to the communit. 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. So I'm going to pick your brain here and we're going to tell some amazing stories because you have had such a colorful, wonderful, amazing journey. Well it's been it's been fun for a kid from Red Sport, as I say. And just a quick you know, one minute thumbnail sketch. After after high school report high school go Braves went to a Lamma University in Salem, Oregon, where I went to college and law school. And because my dad was mayor, I think I had developed an early age and interest in politics. Wait wait, wait, wait wait, you were the line leader, Harry, And like kindergarten in first grade, I ran for line leader at campaign and in high school you ran our high school. So with some help from others, so you 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 the 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. You won every election you ever ran for. And after when I was at we LAMBD, 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 out 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 Oregon. Worked for him for about two and a half three years. So much for the one year, yes, And then through good fortune, I fell in with Elizabeth Dole who 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 speech writer 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? Help the dolls with with four books? Uh? 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 World War Two Memorial, which is amazing. So eleven years in Washington, D C. And then returned to Oregon seven uh, and was twelve years as the Oregon chief of staff to a fellow named Gordon Smith, who was you Oregon's US Senator for twelve years and who you know now, Delilah as the CEO of the National Association of Broadcasters. 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. How do you know that? Well, we worked together for quite a while now so and 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, uh, the Oregon History Museum. And every state has an equivalent. In Washington has one, California has when you name it, they have a historical society. And where the guardians of Oregon's history hold that thought. Carry, We're going to take a moment here to hear from one of our sponsors, and then we will be back with Carry. Tim check Back with Carry. Tim check On loves someone with the La La. 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. I'm that way. I I never let the truth interfere with a good story. But when it comes to history, it's important to know the truth. You've got to tell the truth. Uh. 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 spoiler alert, there's some ugly, there's some really an Oregon history. But in every state's history. You know, think that Oregon is now 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 Oregon historical society. Whether you were the Native American or the grandsons of pioneers, or Vietnamese immigrant family that moved there three months ago, you all should be able to find your your true story. And that's what we try to do. I love that at 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've got to tell the story. And I've had some people who have gone through the exhibit tell me, well, that makes me feel guilty. I say, well, you know, you're not responsible for what happened a hundred years ago, but you're responsible for knowing what happened a 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 Beaverton school Board. Of course, when you're chairman of the school board, it's a volunteer job, so that's kind of her full time volunteer job. And I've been involved 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 muctual disabilities and in the lives of the kids who helped them out. It transforms them as well. I think it transforms the kids who do not have unique abilities even more so. You had a blessing at birth and that your parents. I you know, 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. And so you were kind of raised with that environment or that legacy of community and giving back. But what about people who didn't have that kind of foundation, What would you say to them carry today? Just 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 a mother and a father who who were committed to making a difference to want to make a difference yourself. You know, I admit I was blessed because of that, But even if they hadn't been involved, maybe there's something in me would have been you know, there's a there have been a light that would have driven me to want to want to help people. 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 givernor Barbara Roberts, who was the Oregan'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're ride in the parade, and then when you move to a big city you might become overwhelmed. But the but what you need to do is still build the float right in the float, right in the parade. Even a big city, there's a chance to make a difference as well, which is what I've tried to do going from reed Sport to Washington, CE to Portland. Just adjust accordingly. So we always thought you would be running for president one day. Who knows? Who knows who in America has one Jeopardy not once, not twice, not three times, but four time champion. I'm not Jeopardy James. I didn't do as well as he did, but how many did he win? He ended up winning over or thirty or so so so still for is pretty impressive. But politics, uh I, I and frankly the Lilia I thought that you're right that I would end up renting 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 day to run for office. And ended up not doing that, partially because I was fortunate enough and to see it at the level I got to see it at, but also because I think I decided that I didn't have the personality for modern day warfare politics with all that the backstabbing and the name calling in the partisanship that has now enveloped politics, especially in this time. And you know, people now are Republicans first, an American second, or Democrats first, an American second, and it's got to be switched. They need to be Americans first, and then then you're a party. But the parties have almost become cults in some in some way where you listen to the party first and take orders from your party, whether you're doing what you really believe in. So I'm not going to get to vote for you someday for president. I don't think that's going to happen so anytime soon. And if I did run, my wife would divorce me, so that would be we don't let that 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 or any of those clubs. Go to town halls, become involved in and speak up. The problem I think with politics now is that the fringes are the loudest, and it's the vast group in the middle who are silent. Civility and decency it still matter. That's the two most important um qualities. I think of public servants our civility, decency, honesty, compassion, passion, politeness, politeness, and those seemed to be in short supply. Let me turn the tables and interviewed Delilah for a minute. So what's the biggest lesson you took from growing up in a town like Weedsport? Because the town is so proud of you and and it all started out at Katie un in fourteen seventy and read Sport, Oregon. And your brother was on the air. He was on the air too, So but so, what 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 and he went to high school with Matt, disappeared in a plane accident, and the town turned out in droves. It helps 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 off and went and looked for my brother's plane. And it was that experience, And it was seeing the casseroles show up at the house, you know, somebody would knock at the door and there would be a box of hot food left there. That was when it clicked for me what a blessing I had been given, you know. And and then as my career took off, and I people like, well when did you get your starry? I was fourteen? Where else but in a tiny town do you have people like Steve Connegie and Jerome Connegian west Locker that say, yeah, fourteen year old can come in. We'll teach you how to use the microphone and the equipment. And so from the time Matt's plane went down until today, I just grow more and more appreciative of what a blessed community we had. And one thing I learned, every community has the same thing. You name the city. There are people like that. We're blessed with people who who want to be heroes, who want to make a difference, and that that has to continue. People have got to continue to be involved into and 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 too Latin words volunt meaning to knock oneself out and tear meaning without pay. So that's to knock yourself out with that. Yes, but but God bless volunteers. You know what my kids say, Oh no, I can't come on Saturday. I've been volunte old. I'm gonna steal that one, fair and square from you, so so you can use that now you're voluntelda to go help out. That I think for me is the key is making sure that kids continue that legacy of love and of hope. Yeah, you get more than you give by volunteering. There's there's just no doubt about it. Carry, Tim Check, thank you for being here on our podcast, Love Someone with the Lila. If you'd like to hear more about Carry or from Carrie, Google is named k E R R y T y M C h u K. There's some great information, some great interviews. I know you're going to enjoy if you find yourself in Portland, Oregon, stopping at the Oregon Historical Society. You could say that Carry followed a few dozen whispers in his heart, but I think it comes down to having what is called in the book Dare to Matter, a prepared heart. His family were never ones to sit on their hands or wait for change to happen. They modeled passion and involvement to Carry and his brother Keith, who have in turn modeled it to their family and children. I'm proud to call Carry my friend. I hope this story has inspired you, my friend, What things have you wanted to do and yet have not approached, have not raised your hand, have not said yes? Let me try that. Start from a small idea, from that small seed, and let it grow and blossom into something big and beautiful, one heart at a time.

LOVE SOMEONE with Delilah

In a world that can feel divisive and bleak, it's easy to get caught up in feelings of hopelessness, 
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