Riley Timmerman

Mr. Harris
History 1
24 February 2015
Mini Biographies
Mom
My mom, Elizabeth Ann Martin-Timmerman, was born on December 14th, 1960
in San Francisco. She lived in San Francisco for only 4 years and after that, she moved to
San Bruno. She attended Springhill Elementary school in Lafayette from kindergarten to
sixth grade and then moved onto Stanley Middle School for 7th and 8th grade. Then, my
mom went to Acalanes High School for all four years. She was a very good student in
school. She participated in many extracurricular activities and sports. She was a campfire
girl and loved going away for summer camps. She also enjoyed participating in
gymnastics. One of her favorite hobbies was riding her bike, although she enjoyed many
other things like, sowing, reading, playing the piano, canoeing, baking, embroidery, and
performing in plays. She lived with one brother and one sister so she usually always had
company. My mom has some very interesting stories to tell that relate to turning points in
life. One of them was when her uncle stood up for her at a family dinner. My
grandparents did not think that it would be worth it for her to attend a four year
university, but my uncle thought otherwise. He eventually convinced her parents to send
her to a four year college where she met my dad, and if it was not for her uncle, chances
are she would not be where she is today. Another one is that her dad would take her to the
Russian River a lot which has affected my family today. Now, our family owns our own
cabin where we will spend the rest of our lives.
My mom attended college at UC Davis. At Davis, she got her bachelors degree
and majored in psychology, but most importantly, this is where she met my dad, Pete. My
mom had many different jobs, but many of those jobs were being a hotel manager at
numerous hotels. Her first hotel she was a manager at was the Shattuck hotel in Berkeley.
As an adult, my mom has many hobbies. One of her favorite hobbies is golfing. She loves
to wake up early and get out to Boundary Oaks with a group and play a quick nine holes,
but sometimes, she will even play eighteen holes. She also loves reading, travelling,
creative writing, cooking and entertaining, and walking and hiking. My mom has had two
major turning points in her life; the death of her uncle and the death of her father. Her
uncle was the reason why she is where she is today because if it was not for him she
would have never attended UC Davis and met my dad. Her fathers death hit our whole
family very hard. He used to live in Rohnert Park and we would not see him often, but
eventually, we got him to move to Walnut Creek Manor. After living in Walnut Creek
Manor for awhile, we got him to move into the house right next to our house.

Riley Timmerman
Mr. Harris
History 1
24 February 2015
Mini Biographies
Grandfather
My grandfather, Roger Martin, lived a very eventful life. He was born on January
19th, 1930 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. As a child, he was raised in many different places. In the
beginning of his life, he was raised in Tulsa but when his parents moved to California and
got divorced, he was raised in Berkeley with his mother and stepdad and Sonoma with his
father. At school, he was an average student but he loved reading. Other than reading, my
grandfather had many other hobbies. He played outside all the time. He was involved in
many sports, some of which being basketball, baseball, football, and lots of bike riding
whenever he had a bike. Whenever he was at his dads house, he would help his dad his
fox terriers. He grew up during the depression, so he did not have a lot of money to buy
lots of stuff and pursue new hobbies. His family life at home was very tough considering
that he grew up during the depression. His parents split when he was four so his mother
had a very hard time raising him. He never had a lot of extras or fancy food, just a very
simple life. His dad loved him but was very strict. He had very tight finances and often
had trouble making ends meet. The fact that he was shuttled between his parents house
every year was very hard for him and changed his life forever. This made him want
something different for his children. When my grandfather was only ten years old, his
mom got remarried to a man named Joseph Jordan. Joseph was a very kind, honest, and
hard working man with a real desire to be a father figure to him and was a very great
influence towards my grandfather. Joseph always tried to be a good role model as a man
and a gentleman and required that he be respectful towards his mother.
My grandfather went to school at San Francisco State University. There, he
played baseball as a left handed pitcher and was president of his fraternity, Kappa
Omega. He began his career at the San Francisco Police department for seven years, and
then later joined the San Francisco Fire Department for nearly 25 years. Also during that
time he and his wife owned a construction equipment business called Concord
Construction Equipment for over ten years. As an adult, he played tons of sports. He
played golf, tennis, hand ball, ice hockey, broom hockey, and softball. He also coached
baseball and hockey. He always loved to read books, but his favorites were the ones that
had a western theme to them. One of his favorite hobbies was playing cards with his
fellow retired fire fighters. Him and my grandmother were married for 31 years but
unfortunately they got a divorce. Joining the fire department was one of his biggest life
decisions. Doing so enabled him to make some lifelong friendships, he really identified
with the fire department. He took lots of pride in starting his own business and watching
it grow until unfortunately it was put out of business during the recession in the 80s
when the economy went down. Losing his business was one of the greatest hardships he
dealt with. Another turning point in his life was the birth of his four grandsons. He really
showed us his love; both my brother and I loved whenever he took the time and effort out
of his day to come to our baseball games.

Riley Timmerman
Mr. Harris
History 1
24 February 2015
Mini Biographies
Dad
My dad, Peter Donald Timmerman, was born in Walnut Creek, California on
March 1st, 1963. Originally, he lived in Clayton but when he turned 8 years old, he moved
to Walnut Creek. From kindergarten till half of second grade my dad went to Mt. Diablo
Elementary School and then finished the second half of second grade at Castle Rock
Elementary School. From 3rd grade to 6th grade, my dad attended Walnut Acres. Just like
me, he went from Walnut Acres Elementary to Foothill Middle School from 7th grade to
8th grade. After Foothill, he went to Northgate for all four years. He was a very good
student and always did the best work he could possibly do on every assignment. As a kid,
my dad always had something fun going on. Some of his favorite activities were piano,
soccer, flag football, track and field, and tennis. He played soccer and flag football at
Foothill and ran track at Northgate, following his dads footsteps as a track runner. He
never had the internet as a source of entertainment as a child, so he always enjoyed
playing games with his dad. Some of these games were backgammon, cribbage, and other
card games they could think of. He was also big on coin collecting and he loved to build
model cars and airplanes. At home, he and his father were the only men in the house, but
he had two sisters. His father was a very hardworking guy who worked at and still does
work at the Little Bear car wash on Ygnacio and his mom was a stay at home mom. He
had lots of different pets, mostly just a bunch of different cats and dogs. From second
grade on, he rode his bike to school everyday until high school, where he would either
walk or find a ride. My dad and his father took vacations a decent amount. Some of the
places they went to were a cabin on the south shore of Lake Tahoe that they often visited,
Yosemite, Hawaii twice, once as a freshman, once as a senior, and he would visit
Carlsbad a lot to see his moms family. One of his biggest turning points in his childhood
was moving from Clayton to Walnut Creek. He had to change schools and make new
friends which was very stressful at the time. Another big event in his life was getting his
first job at age 14 at Little Bear car wash. From here on out, his work ethic was changed
and it helped shape him into the hard working man he is today.
Attending college at UC Davis was one of my dads biggest decisions he has
made. If it was not for that, he and my mother would have never met and all three of us
would be nowhere near where we are today. While he was at UC Davis, he studied to
become a wine maker. He had a few jobs on the subject, however once he took his first
job in the construction subject, all of his jobs since have been either related to
construction or environmental construction. Today, some of his favorite pastimes include
hanging out with his kids, running, biking, going to our cabin at the Russian River,
vacationing, making our house a better place to live in, and fixing things. He and my
mother have been happily married for nearly twenty five years. As an adult, one of his
turning points in his life was when his friend and girlfriend died in a car crash. Buying
our house in Walnut Creek is also one of his favorite accomplishments, along with
sending my brother off to college.

Riley Timmerman
Mr. Harris
History 1
24 February 2015
Mini Biographies
Grandmother
My grandma, Rita Lynch-Martin, was born in San Francisco and was raised there
for the entirety of her childhood. My grandmother was a very good student. She went to
school at The School of The Epiphany. It was a kindergarten through 8th grade catholic
school in San Francisco. For high school, she went to Immaculate Conception Academy.
Her childhood consisted of many different hobbies; some of these hobbies were playing
jacks on the front steps and sitting in the backyard, sun tanning and playing cards. She
played a little bit of basketball, but not much. Home life for her was very unique
compared to how it is for people today. Her parents were very blue collared and wanted
to stick to the old ways. Both of her parents were catholic and from Ireland. My
grandmother had two brothers growing up so being the only young girl in the house was
something she had to deal with.
My grandma attended college at University of San Francisco. Although she
started college there, she never finished and ultimately never graduated from college. My
grandmother was a book keeper at many different places. She was a book keeper at a
Concord Construction Equipment, Mar Mounte, a window company, and Alegro.
Something my grandmother does for fun nowadays is gamble. Her favorite games are
Bingo, the slot machines, and every once in a while she will play blackjack. Her
gambling life has been very prosperous because she has a history winning a lot. My
grandmother and grandfather were married for 31 years but unfortunately they got
divorced. One major turning point in her adult life was working at Purity Stores, a chain
grocery store in California. Here, she met two people who she is still very good friends
with today, Joane and Annie.