It is with sadness that I have to report that my brother Tim passed away on Sunday morning last (August 9th) after his eighteen month battle with cancer. He died at the UC Davis medical center surrounded by his former wife, Margaret, his father and myself. We were all pleased that he was able to make his end of life decisions on his own and he was alert until slipping into a coma on Saturday night. He passed away, peacefully, at 11:00 a.m. Sunday morning.
I know that he would have wanted me to thank all of you for your support in his battle with cancer and with your friendships, whether they were lifetime friendships or had lasted only for a short while. Your support gave him great strength and happiness, not only in his valiant struggle with cancer, but throughout his entire life.
Tim will be cremated and his ashes sent to Camano Island where they will be kept with those of his grandmother and mother and his beloved Boston Terrier, Parker. We will announce plans relating to a memorial service when we have made appropriate plans.
Erik Jensen
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28 comments:
Tim was a good man and a good minister. I will miss him. Very much.
James
What sad, sad news. My heart goes out to you and your family, Erik. Our whole UU family has suffered a great loss.
Erik, I am deeply saddened by this news. Tim opened his journey to us all through his blog. I will inform the congregation here in Carlisle. Many of them were able to visit with Tim when he stopped by in June. -- Diane Miller, Minister, First Religious Society, Carlisle
Erik, thank you and your family for thinking of Tim's far-flung friends at this time. I can't believe that I will never again have the opportunity to engage with him in spirited and good-humored debate about some fine point of vocabulary, compete in a trivia contest ("Janet! You're taking this far too seriously!" he'd say.)or sit in a pew and share in the fruits of his superb intellect and wonderful spirit.
My deepest condolences to you and all your family.
Erik,
I loved Tim. I am so sad he is gone, but relieved Margie was there, and that he got to call his own shots all the way through things. I wish him blessed peace and I wish this for your whole family too. Claudine
Eric, I am so sorry. Like Tim himself, I had hoped he would have more time. Seems like maybe God wanted to bring him to the big church service in the sky.
The love of his family was his greatest joy. I send my sympathies to you all.
I was tremendously fond of Tim and knew him years ago when he was in the Northwest where he will return. We had a number of remarkable conversations and I will always remember one of our extended conversations over BBQ ribs in the Portland area. May his memory be blessed as well as all he leaves us.
I only knew Tim from this blog. But he enriched my life, as he enriched those who had the privilege of knowing him better. My sympathy to his family, friends, former congregants, and the community of bloggers who will miss him.
Erik, we have been so glad to have been able to walk with you, your family, and Tim this past several years. I was much amused by the books we shared and amazed by the breadth of Tim's interests. How well he put it all together with us when he spoke from the pulpit. We hold you and Tim in our hearts...forever is too short a time, I think.
To Tim's Family -- Tim has been such an inspiration to me over the past two years. He spoke from his heart and I'll miss him so much.
Mary
How very, very sad. I still remember Tim from when he was doing Europe. Is it a decade ago. He came from Copenhagen in Denmark and to us here in Norway, where he stayed a couple of days before moving on. Since then we stayed in contact via the Internet. He was a good man and only good memories. My prayers and thoughts and condolences go to his family and close friends.
From Knut in Norway
I Know I speak for Tim's entire First Parish family when I say how saddened I am by the news of his passing. His eternal optimism had us all convinced that he would be with us for a long time yet. My deepest sympathy and condolences to you, Erik and Jerry and the whole family. Your brother was a good man and he will be missed.
Erik, I am so deeply sad...Tim and I spent a lot of time together before he left Portland, ME. Please let me know if I can be of any help with anything, here in the east...
Rev. Sue Kingman, Sanford, ME
Dear Erik
please send my love to your family. Tim battled with such honesty.
i am very dad to get this news
jeanne mullen
Erik, my thoughts are with you and the rest of Tim's family. Thanks for posting your message where it could be read by Tim's many and far-flung friends. Tim's visit to Nantucket in June meant so much to those of us here. I am grateful to have witnessed his way of being (centered, courageous, generous) as he struggled with cancer, and especially glad to have known his irrepressible self.
Rev. Jennifer Brooks, Nantucket MA
A life well lived and well loved is a precious thing. Deep sympathy to Tim's family and friends. The love we leave behind is our greatest legacy.
Erik, my heart is with you and the family as you mourn Tim. I loved him very much. Still do; always will. May memories console us all.
God be with you and yours in these next days and months. What a heartbreaking surprise this has been.
Vicki Weinstein
I'm so sorry Erik.
We loved Tim dearly.
We are better for having known him.
Simon, Lisa, Myfy, Alec & Theo.
I am forwarding from Carol Nathan, a parishioner at the First Religious Society in Carlisle, MA:
Dear Eric:
I am sad to say that I did not get to greet Tim during his June visit at FRS.
I wanted him to know that I loved his sermons. I was forever taking notes.
I frequently shared them with my two boys.
I am so sorry about the loss of your brother. It is also a loss for the UU movement.
My best to you and your family,
Carol Nathan
Carlisle
there is great joy in my life in having known and loved tim since the day we met at harvard divinity school in 1979. my life is richer and definitely more humorous, and loving, because of tim's presence. i miss him already. he is a star in the firmament for me, and i shall look up and wink at it and laugh and smile and wave at it. my love to the wonderful family and friends and church colleagues and parishioners who loved his wit, wisdom, kindness, compassion, dedication as did i.
love to you all,
elizabeth leavitt
This is a great sadness for me, the loss of my lifelong best friend in every sense of the word. Tim was someone I looked up to and admired as a young man, and we grew up together. No one can fill his place in my life, and no one can replace his unique loving and generous personality. I am comforted to know that Tim's suffering, both physical and existential, is over and he walks proudly with the spiritual giants of the ages that he so thoroughly loved to study and debate. His soul will be held closely by the Lord forever. My love and prayers are with all the Jensen family members now, treasuring our memories of Tim and hearing his voice inside.
Eric and Family,
Tim's word work, whether composed as a sermon or comprised as a plain old blog made me a better person on this earth. I found inspiration, curiosity, wonder, elation, reflection in all the banalities of life after meeting my favorite Reverend.
I'll miss you old friend. Thanks for the "autodidactic" tools, your good humor and deep thought. You were one of a kind...
Erik and other family members, Tim was the best of colleagues, a witty and loyal friend. He is mourned deeply by all those who knew him well. Congregants at the Whidbey Island and Wy'east congregations were well-served by his competent ministry.
Tim had every gift but length of years.
I hadn't checked in for a while. Stunning, sad news - somehow, I thought maybe -------- Thank you, Erik, for letting us know.
Diana
Tim is in my thoughts. I am so sorry for the loss of your brother. I was glad I was able to see him in June when he visited FRS in Carlisle.
Lisa
I had also not checked recently (grading), and was stunned when I read this news. Tim was one of my favorite Scrabble buddies, colleagues and drinking partners at Western and SUCH a good guy. He challenged my wits and my intelligence with almost every conversation. He could make me laugh, and he always made me think. Please know that I am thinking of all of you - so glad
he was surrounded by all of you.
He will be remembered with great fondness.
Many hugs -
DK
Even as a teenager, Tim always challenged me to look beyond, to reach higher and expand my thinking. I'm sure he did that with everyone he knew and ministered to over the years. I'm sorry to learn of his death. My thoughts and prayers are with all of his family and friends around the world as we go forward without him.
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