It’s the end of an era for Waterdown District High School (WHDS), as coach and math teacher Larry Timms hangs up his protractor for retirement.
Timms has taught at the high school for 32 of his 33-year-long career and coached a slew of sports during his time as a teacher.
“I’m really going to miss it. I’ve always really enjoyed teaching, I really enjoy the kids,” he told FlamboroughToday.
He reminisced about his three decades at the school and the generations of families he has been able to teach since he came to WDHS in 1992. He'll even miss an ongoing joke about his genetically strong legs, which some of his students call his "pineapple calves."
Those pineapple calves are a main feature on the poster for Timms's retirement, which he laughed about.
“Despite what people may think, kids nowadays are just as nice and good as any kid I’ve ever talked with, quite frankly,” he said.
One of those students from the past is now his colleague, history teacher Nathan Tidridge. Timms taught Tidridge keyboard typing when he was a student.
“Larry’s an institution,” Tidridge said. “He’s just kind of part of the fabric of not only the school, but the wider community.”
Timms himself said he often gets sidetracked when he’s out and about in Waterdown, chatting with old students or friends wherever he goes. He said he also taught Tidridge’s wife, which he added is a common occurrence. Last semester, he said, he had a class where he taught six students whose parents he had also taught.
“In the case of four of them, I had taught both mom and dad,” he said, adding that WDHS is a “community based school.”
Timms celebrates three decades of coaching
During his time at WDHS, Timms has been heavily involved in athletics. He was a coach with the football team for 23 years, started the school’s baseball team, had a stint coaching volleyball, and has coached the hockey team for the past decade.
“I will come back and coach hockey next year, if they need me,” he said.
But if the school doesn’t, Timms said next year will be spent travelling with his wife, starting with a trip to Denver in September.
Timms’s retirement party is at the Waterdown Legion on June 7, starting at 7 p.m. The event will have live music, food, a cash bar and, most importantly, Larry himself.
Tidridge said Timms’s friends and family want to spread the word and get as many people to come out to the event as possible.
“Either he taught you, coached you, or is somehow related to you,” Tidridge said, which is also on the poster he made for the event.
And Timms said he’s hoping to see familiar faces at the event.
“I’d love to see a number of my old students. My football players, hockey players, volleyball players, baseball players…. I would like it to be a reunion,” he said.
“Just sit down for an evening and reminisce and talk about the good old days.”
