Riley Timmerman

Mr. Harris
History 1
11 March 2015
Mini Biographies
My great-grandmother lived a very eventful life. She was born on October 19th,
1899 in Ballyvouge, County Cork, Ireland and that is where she spent most of her
childhood. In Ireland during the 20th century, schools and the general education system
were very different as they are today in America. My great-grandmother did not go to
school until 6th grade. When she was a little girl, she and her family would do tons of
dancing. Moms, sisters, brothers, and friends would come over to do Irish dances. They
did the dances in couples; it was kind of like square dancing. My great-grandmother
lived on a farm for all of her childhood and it was not easy. Once they reached a certain
level of maturity, each child would have to get a job in order to support the family. She
had 12 siblings, so making the children have jobs was pretty much a necessity. On the
farm, there were lots of animals, but mostly cows and chickens. As a child, one of my
great-grandmothers major turning points in her life was seeing her oldest brother leave to
America. This really changed her because she knew that she would probably never see
him again. Over the years, more and more relatives started to head to America in search
of a better life.
My great-grandmother never went to college. She only attended 6th grade, so
education was not that big of a priority for her. Her first job was working in a private
home as a maid. One of her favorite ways to relax was to go to Rockaway Beach.
Rockaway Beach was located in Pacifica and she would go there almost every Sunday.
My great-grandma and great-grandfathers marriage lasted over 50 years and they were
happily together the whole entire time. By far the biggest turning point in my greatgrandmothers life was coming to America because she did what she thought would never
happen; see her siblings and the rest of her family that had previously left to America.

Riley Timmerman
Mr. Harris
History 1
11 March 2015
Mini Biographies
My great grandfather, Humphrey Lynch, was born on March 24th, 1901 in
Ranarree, County Cork, Ireland. Along with my great-grandmother, he spent most of his
childhood here in Ireland. The interesting thing about this is that my great grandparents
lived only a few miles away from each other but they never actually met until they came
to America. He went to school for only one grade just like my great-grandmother,
however instead of sixth grade, he was in 8th grade. Although most children worked in
Ireland during their childhood, they often would have time to hang out and play with
other children. At home, there was lots of farm life for my great-grandfather. Seeing
relatives going to America without him was a major event of his childhood because he
had no idea if he would ever see them again.
Humphrey Lynch never went to college. After 8th grade, he learned how to drive
and got a job as a truck driver. When he first got this job, prohibition was in place and he
would drive sodas around and deliver them to stores. Once prohibition ended, he began to
drive around beer and would deliver it wherever necessary. My great-grandfather was a
blue collar worker. His major professions were being a truck driver and working in a
warehouse. When he wasnt working, he and my great-grandmother would come down to
Rockaway Beach, a beach located in Pacifica, almost every Sunday. They had a very
happy marriage that lasted for over 50 years. Meeting my great-grandmother was one of
my great-grandfathers turning points in life, along with coming to America. My greatgrandparents both came from County Cork, Ireland to San Francisco, California without
knowing each other. They finally met at a dance in San Francisco and because of that
night they met, their lives were forever changed.

Riley Timmerman
Mr. Harris
History 1
11 March 2015
Mini Biographies
My grandma, Carol Timmerman, was born in Glenville, California on June 28th,
1936. Although she was born in Glenville, she was raised in South Pasadena, California.
She was a champion student and most of the time she would have straight As. She went
to high school at South Pasadena San Marino High School. As a kid, some of her hobbies
were sewing, reading, and cooking. She participated in lots of sports, some of those being
volleyball, basketball, baseball, and field hockey. She spent lots of time as a Girl Scout,
too. She lived a very comfortable life at home where it was just her mother, dad and
sister. One of the biggest events of her childhood was deciding that she was going to go
to UC Berkeley.
As an adult, one of her first major jobs was becoming a teacher. This is very
interesting because she worked in the Mount Diablo Unified School System. As an adult,
she had many ways of having fun, some of those being vacationing in her Truckee home
or just playing some tennis. My grandparents got married in 1958 and have been married
happily ever since, making it so that they have been married for 56 years. The greatest
events in her life were having her three children, Laura, Karen, and Pete Timmerman.

Riley Timmerman
Mr. Harris
History 1
11 March 2015
Mini Biographies
My grandfather, Don Timmerman, was born in Klamath Falls, Oregon on March
7th, 1932. In his early years of his life, he was raised in Oregon however when he was
seven years old he moved to Coronado. He was a very good student, but only until after
he got a pair of glasses. His parents both had perfect vision and they assumed that he did
too but unfortunately he didnt and he was affected by it until he got glasses. In
Coronado, he had many ways of having fun. Some of the things he did were making
model airplanes, jeeps, and things like that. He lived on an island, so he rode his bike
around the island a lot and would also go down to the beach and swim often. He played
lots of sports, some being softball or a football game in the park. He never really had any
true hobbies so he started working at the early age of 12 and has been working hard ever
since. His home life at home was not ideal. He grew up during the Great Depression and
it was very hard for his dad to get a job. He was on county welfare and at one point; it got
so bad that they moved from Oregon to California. One of the biggest events in his life
was going to UC Berkeley. He ran track their and that helped shape him into the man he
is today. Also, getting glasses helped him get the grades he needed to go to Cal so that
was a major turning point in his life.
When my grandfather finished college, he went straight to the army. He went into
basic training down by Monterey and was chosen to go into the CIC, also known as the
Counter Intelligence Corps. He was stationed in New York City and his main mission was
to interview people in order to get special information. After he got out of the army, he
realized that they would pay for of the stuff he wanted to do. One of the things that they
would pay for was flying lessons. His biggest dream was to own an airplane and so far he
has already owned 3 different airplanes at different times. My grandparents got married
in 1958 and are still married today, putting them at 57 years in December, 2015. One of

his biggest turning points as an adult was purchasing a car wash in Oakland. This lead up
to him buying the carwash that he still owns today, Little Bear Carwash on Ygnacio.