After a long, slow decline, Timothy Dale Ramey succumbed to illness on Dec. 16, 2023.
He was born Oct. 7, 1940 in Vancouver, Wash. Tim’s father worked building dams all through the northwest and Tim and his mother would move to communities close to those dams.
Some of those communities were Manson, Wash., Hungry Horse, Mont., Goldendale, Wash., and Vancouver, Wash.
Tim was always cool and super smart. High school held no challenges for him. He graduated from Hudson Bay High School and eventually earned a master’s degree in social work from the University of Washington.
Tim almost always had a motorcycle. He would go on long camping trips with friends, and his brother, who also had motorcycles. He motorcycled his way to work whenever the weather allowed.
Tim became a hardcore hippy in 1970. He moved his wife Nancy and son Sean to a log cabin with running water but no electricity near Monroe, Wash.
It was during this stage that Tim experimented with several different drugs and hallucinogens. During an acid trip, Tim met Jesus Christ, and it changed his life forever. He started attending a very strict little church, which was good for him at the time. He straightened up and went back to work to support his family.
Eventually Tim became one of the pastors of this church, but life got very hard after Nancy contracted multiple sclerosis (MS). By this time, they had another son, Rance.
Tim was working for Snohomish County Jail as the work release supervisor, and he took care of his sons and Nancy. He felt the lack of support from his church deeply and left that congregation. Eventually Tim took early retirement due to major depression, which he battled for the rest of his life.
Tim was a compassionate man. He valued his friends very much, and he and Nancy took in stray children who needed shelter and human warmth. (One of these strays became his wife, Sheran, 28 years later.)
Nancy eventually died of MS, leaving Tim and his two sons, Sean and Rance, bereft.
Through all this, Tim would reduce his stress by riding his motorcycle for miles and miles. Eventually, Tim finally got a Harley-Davidson and found many new friends to ride with as well as his other friends.
Tim followed Sheran as she moved to Ellensburg to get a teaching certificate, and again to Lynden for a teaching position. Tim and Sheran joined Hope Lutheran Church where Tim made friends and attended weekly breakfasts. Tim also organized monthly lunches.
Tim is preceded in death by his brother, Zac, and his previous wife, Nancy. Tim leaves his two sons, Sean and Rance; his wife, Sheran; his grandchildren Nikky, Matthew, Michael, Cali and Jack; and several great-grandchildren. He also loved his step-children Grey and Anna, and their children Sally, Brooks, Henry, Theo and Alejandra.
Tim was very sick in his last days. Although we are saddened and miss him very much, we are glad that he is not sick or in pain any longer.
A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. Jan. 15 at Hope Lutheran Church, 900 E. Grover St., Lynden. A light lunch will be served after.
