Dear BCS Community,
On Sunday, September 24 BCS lost a dear friend. Gerry Timmerman passed away following a brief illness. Gerry was 94, on a good day she was 5 foot 2, and she was my friend. She was one of the most tenacious people I have ever met and even though most of you have never heard of her, she loved Brentwood Christian School and she loved your kids. She did so much for our community and yet she never wanted credit to go anywhere other than the Lord.
While Gerry was with us, I had to promise to never talk about who she was and what she meant to our community, but she is no longer here, and she can no longer hit me in the shins with her cane when I try to talk about her. Gerry never had kids at BCS. She never had grandkids at BCS. She never served on the Board or PTF or Booster Club, or FAB. So why does Gerry matter so much to our BCS community? It is simple, Gerry Timmerman is the wonderful lady who, pretty much single-handedly, has funded “Bless Our Bears”, the financial aid system that helps so many of our families, as well as the BCS “Teachers Endowment”.
Because of Gerry Timmerman, 379 students have received financial aid in the last 5 years, including 129 students of single parents. Because of Gerry Timmerman, we were able to assist over 60 families who either lost their jobs or had their wages reduced during COVID. Because of Gerry Timmerman, 6 BCS families who live in apartments now have washers and dryers so that they do not have to go to the laundromat and can instead spend those evenings at home with their kids. Because of Gerry Timmerman, BCS has been able to attract and hold onto teachers that we could not previously afford. Gerry’s endowment has helped create opportunities to subsidize housing and clothing and meals for our teachers to make Austin a more affordable place to live as a teacher.
Who was Gerry Timmerman to you? Gerry was a tiny fireball that walked with a cane and then a walker, she drove an old Camry and sent donations through the mail in a plain old envelope. She lived in a beautiful home that felt like you were stepping back into the early 80s when you entered it. Gerry Timmerman would never let me tell you all the things she did while she was here but now that she is spending her time in the presence of God, I am going to guess she has better things to occupy her time and her mind. So now you know who Gerry Timmerman is and why she is so important to BCS.
I am sharing this with you now because I want you to know that there are people like Gerry who care a great deal about your kids and their ability to receive a Christ-centered quality education. There are people who see your kids as the investment that is necessary to help our country stabilize and become the family-centered, God fearing, working country we need to be. There are people who look at the mission of BCS and believe the way we honor God is by leading our students to love Him. To nurture them in a Christ-centered, high quality academic environment. They believe it is ok to emphasize and expect excellence and they believe that if we develop their gifts that they will become leaders who lead through service. In other words, they believe in your kids and they make so much of what we do possible.
God is now blessing Gerry Timmerman in eternity and I hope everyone one who reads this will thank God for the life, generosity, and spirit of Gerry and the many others who make our school possible. I also pray we never lose sight of how blessed we all are and how His grace is evident in our daily lives. May we have the courage to share that grace with our community and may BCS always be the shining city on the hill.
May God bless Gerry Timmerman because she always believed that it was a great day to be a BCS Bear.