Norman Tim Larsen Tribute

Yesterday on my dad's birthday we scattered his ashes in the Gulf of Mexico off the canal where he lived. It was an area that our family had often gone out to by boat. The ceremony went very well and was more of a celebration of Tim than a somber event. Many people shared memories of who he was, most involved him inventing or creating something. Everyone drank sangria and listened to cd's my mom made with his favorite music. My brother Toby gave a great impromptu toast; I wish we had thought to film it. I am sure that Tim was there with us smiling and just wishing he could have had a glass.

Our dad always told Tim "You can build anything." And Tim wasn't very old when a series of go-carts, motorcycles, and dune-buggies took shape in our garage. We named one of his bikes 'the bear bicycle" because it looked like what bears ride in the circus.

Tim was a few months shy of getting his driver's license when he and Daddy went to the Ford garage in Eugene to see the first Mustang. Of course, they couldn't resist, and a few days later the red Mustang came home. Tim drove it to the mailbox and back and counted the days until his birthday.

It wasn't long until Tim decided he could soup-up the mustang by cutting a hole in the hood and installing some gadget to give the engine more air. Mom and us girls were horrified, but Daddy was proud, and told the Aunties that Tim was making his car run better.

But the car ran like it had a bad cold. It coughed, it spit, it lurched, and it died in the driveway. Even mom and us girls felt bad. Tim spent days with his head somewhere down in the engine of that car. And before long the Mustang was showing up at the drag-races and at cruise night.

In time, Tim came to believe that he could make anything. And I think he could too.