April 17, 1954–June 22, 1979
Timothy Peter Walvoord was the third of four sons born to John F. and Geraldine Walvoord.
Tim was born in Dallas, Texas at Florence Nightingale Hospital at 9:13 AM on April 17, 1954.
At that time, his oldest brother John Edward was 12 years old and his brother James Randall was 8 years old.
He was dedicated by his parents in January 30, 1955 in the morning church service at Reinhardt Bible Church wearing the baptismal dress worn by his father, John F. Walvoord in 1911.
Tim got a lot of attention as an adorable, active baby and grew up into a child that amazed others with his curiosity and intelligence.
According to his own life story written in high school, Tim had a salvation experience at 5 or 6 years of age while he was alone in his room. In his words he asked, “Christ to enter his life.” In his story he also wrote:
“At the age of 13 my actual spiritual life began. I was attending Word of Life camp when I was moved by the Holy Spirit and dedicated my life to Christ. From that point my life slowly changed, and I became more interested in Christian activities.”
Tim was active in church, serving as an officer in both the Junior High and High School groups at church and singing in the High School choir.
In 1967 when Tim was 13 and his older brother John Edward was 25, John moved back into the family home in Dallas. John was in graduate school at Dallas Theological Seminary and was College Minister at Reinhardt Bible Church.
Tim and John formed a close, almost father-son relationship in the three years they lived together in their parents’ house. They played chess, studied and watched TV together. They also bought an unrestored 1937 Buick and disassembled it for restoration. The project took over the family garage.
On most evenings and some weekends Tim and John Edward’s favorite activity was working on their 1937 Buick. John had all the mechanic’s tools and body shop equipment necessary to do a complete restoration.
The car restoration project took two years before it was completed. The result was an interesting collector car for cruising around town. But the hours and days working side by side on the old car in their parent’s garage created a deep and lasting relationship between the two brothers.
On October 26, 1967 Tim was baptized with his brothers James and John Edward at Reinhardt Bible Church. James and John E. had been baptized as infants but decided to be baptized again as adults.
In high school Tim was in the Science Club, German Club, Computer Club (where he was president), the National Math Club and Chess Club. In the Chess Club he was president and active in competition with other schools. Somehow, he also managed to play tennis and continue his piano lessons.
On June 1, 1972 Tim graduated with high honors from Bryan Adams High School in Dallas and applied for admission to Wheaton College where his Dad, John F. Walvoord was a famous and honored alumnus.
In the Fall of 1972 Tim enrolled in Wheaton College where he studied Psychology (following his brother John) and Religious Studies (following his Dad) in a double major. He spent two years in ROTC at Wheaton and was initiated into the Wheaton Scholastic Society.
For his first summer after college Tim went to Alaska where the new transcontinental oil pipeline was being constructed. Once there he took the job of a short-order cook for the work crews who took their meals around the clock. He enjoyed the rough and tumble life (and high pay) of the Alaska frontier.
After his second year in college Tim spent his summers studying at North Texas State University earning additional college credits so that he could graduate ahead of his entering class at Wheaton.
In his third year in Wheaton College Tim met the love of his life—Deberah Dawn Graser. She went by the name “Dawn” and was an exchange student from Brown University (near where her family lived in Barrington, Rhode Island).
In August 1975 Tim graduated with high honors from Wheaton College—almost a full year ahead of his entering class of 1976. Tim began planning to apply to Medical School.
Because Medical School required many courses that Tim had not taken at Wheaton, Tim returned to North Texas State University in 1975-1976 to complete many of the required courses for Medical school he had not yet completed. Dawn was busy half-way across the country finishing her junior year of college at Brown University.
On June 19, 1976 Tim and Dawn were married by John F. Walvoord in Barrington, Rhode Island (Dawn’s hometown). After a brief honeymoon the couple took up residence in Texas were Tim had been admitted to the University of Texas, Southwestern Medical School in Dallas for the Fall of 1976.
Tim began and completed his first year of medical school in 1976-1977 while Dawn completed her last year of college at North Texas State University. She graduated in May 1977 with a B.S. in Biology and had been admitted to Medical school for the Fall of 1977.
Since Dawn was admitted to the medical school at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, Texas, Tim transferred to the medical school there and they took up residence in San Antonio in the summer of 1977.
Tim and Dawn attended the same medical school for the school year 1977-1978. Tim’s Dad (John F. Walvoord) helped the new couple buy a house in San Antonio.
In May of 1978 Dawn had a near fatal car accident in San Antonio when a truck turned right in front of her. She missed her finals and was in and out of the hospital most of the summer. For a time, her right arm was paralyzed but recovered as treatment continued. She was not able to resume her studies when classes started in the Fall of 1978 but had fully recovered by the Spring of 1979.
The weekend of June 1-3, 1979 was a time of celebration for the Walvoord family.
Timothy Peter Walvoord graduated from the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio with his M.D. degree. On that same day John Edward Walvoord graduated with his second doctorate, his Ph.D. from Columbia University in New York City.
And no one was surprised, that once again, Tim graduated with high honors.
At a barbeque in Tim’s back yard that Sunday, John F. (Dad), John Edward and Tim counted a total of 5 master’s degrees and 4 doctor’s degrees they had earned as a family. Quite a celebration.
In San Antonio Tim and Dawn attended the University Baptist Chapel which was part of the Castle Hills First Baptist Church. They volunteered to work with the youth at the church. During his last year in medical school he taught a high school class on Sunday morning and a college-career class on Sunday evenings. He was very close to most of the high school and college students at the church. The Sunday before he left for his Medical Residency in Rhode Island, Tim told the pastor,
“This will be my last Sunday here and I want to thank the church for the privilege of working with the young people. It has really made a difference in my life. I’ve gained a closer walk with the Lord as a result. We are looking forward to our new place of service.”
Tim and Dawn packed up everything in the house with the help of friends at church. Dawn was staying behind in San Antonio and Tim was to drive ahead with their car and his dog, an Alaskan Husky. Tim was to begin his medical residency on June 25 at Miriam Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island. Dawn and Tim packed the car. Tim put his large metal toolbox on the floor just ahead of the front passenger seat to make a platform for the dog.
There was still so much to do. Tim left on Thursday night, June 21. Dawn stayed behind to meet the movers and get the house ready to list on the market.
Tim stopped to get a few hours sleep in Arkansas. He was up early and restarted his journey. By 8:30 AM he had passed through Hope, Arkansas on highway I-30 which was under construction and narrowed to one lane on the northbound side.
On the construction site a large construction truck with a flat steel bed (to carry a bulldozer) suddenly pulled onto the highway at 5 mph and then slowed to pick up a worker running alongside.
There was no time to avoid the collision. The difference in speed was almost like hitting a solid wall at 60 mph. The entire front and engine of the small Capri was pushed into the interior. Tim was killed instantly. Tim’s side of the car was crushed—his seat belt held–and the top of his body tilted sideways just outside the open driver’s door. The dog next to him was unconscious but saved by the bulk of the metal toolbox that prevented the dog from being crushed on his side of the car.
The wrecker came immediately but had to pull the car apart to rescue the dog and free up Tim’s body. The dog was not seriously hurt.
The police in Dallas and Arkansas tried to contact Dr. and Mrs. Walvoord but they were in Sydney, Australia at a Bible Conference. When they called Dallas Seminary, they discovered that John Edward, Tim’s brother, was at the Seminary in marketing strategy meeting.
The phone call from the Arkansas Highway Patrol came as an immense shock to John Edward. Jim Killion, a close friend, who worked for his father was in the meeting. Everyone helped to quickly set everything in motion.
The Pastor in San Antonio was sent to Dawn’s house with the police in that city to tell her the news. John finally reached his parents in Australia. It was a very difficult and painful phone call. Everyone was in shock. The President’s Office was already working on the Walvoord’s return travel arrangements from Australia.
Then John Edward jumped into his car and headed for Hope, Arkansas. He had all the information—the Veterinary Hospital, the State Police, the Funeral Home and where the car was impounded. It seemed important to get there right away.
By the time John Edward and his wife Jane met his parents at the airport all the arrangements were complete. The body was ready for shipment from Hope Arkansas. The dog was OK and being returned to Dawn in San Antonio. Two memorial services were planned—one in Dallas and one in San Antonio.
Dawn had decided to bury Tim in their family plot in Barrington, Rhode Island. She was planning to move to Barrington and that would be her new home.
In the Memorial Service in San Antonio, Pastor Stephen Davis said:
“One thing that all of us recognized immediately about Tim was that he didn’t do anything half-way. He always gave one hundred percent. On many occasions
“Tim stayed up until three o’clock in the morning fellowshipping and playing games with some of the youth. They loved him, and the news of his death was shocking to them, to say the least. Tim lived and taught our young people that the most important relationship in life is a relationship to Jesus Christ. His death reminds us of the truth of that statement.
The Memorial Service in Dallas, at his home church, had a standing room only crowd estimated at 700 people. The pastor, Don Geiger, knew Tim and the family well and said:
We are here to remember Tim as he was, and each has his own memories. I remember him as a teen in church . . . active, intense, always involved.
Whatever he did he seemed to do it right and see it through. . . .
Tim was 25, entering the prime of young manhood, loving life and with all of it stretching before him and living for the Lord. He had just completed Medical School. We assumed he would live. Our world so urgently needs bright, trained, committed young men and women like him. We simply expected him to live, and our hearts are broken with grief at what we consider his premature death.
And the questions well up. . . .
No, the answers to the questions. . . why him?. . .why now?. . .what next?. . even if we had the answers, would not bring peace.
And we can only cling to the promises so fully summarized in Romans 8:28, that in everything God works for the good of those who love him. And in acceptance of this promise we hope to find our peace.
For the writing of this story the Walvoord family summarized it this way,
Tim left a huge hole in our lives. So many things remind us of him every day. What we know in our theology takes time to reach our hearts. John Edward, his oldest brother made the decision at age 37 to have children of his own (at that time only had one step-daughter—Jeanne from his marriage to Jane).
Tim’s wife, Tim’s parents, his brothers and all of us who came to love him will miss him intently.
Pastor Geiger summarized this in his final remarks at the Memorial Service:
And so, we say farewell for now, with broken hearts and frankly expressed grief, with pain but no sting. A parting stunning, but not final. Temporary. He has gone ahead, and we all will follow, perhaps sooner than we think. No one will replace him in our hearts, but many he has touched will continue to reflect and remember his life and goodness.
A life cut short, after being killed in a car crash just a few weeks after graduation from Medical School. It was a shock that left Tim’s wife Dawn and his entire family devastated and heartbroken. Tim was 25 years old.
Postscript:
After Tim’s death Dawn Graser married Jason Rogers who was a close friend of both Tim and Dawn from their time in San Antonio. They made their home on the east coast. They had four children—Amanda (September 6, 1980), Jason (January 1, 1982), Rachel (March 17, 1983) and Jennifer (January 20, 1987).
John Edward Walvoord and his wife Jane had two daughters after Tim’s death—Currin (September 25, 1982) and Allison (June 14, 1985).