TIMOTHY KEVIN BERG Oct. 28, 1950 – April 18, 2023
Tim never did anything by half-measure. It was always a full on and thorough effort from him on anything he undertook–with the exception of his providing anything in the way of a curriculum vitae or biography of himself from which to fill in the details of his obituary, despite his having requested that his obituary be published.
The malignant spread of his melanoma took him very quickly starting in early February as what he thought was just a cold, but by early April it became clear to him that something more serious was affecting his health, when he took what turned out to be his final 3 mile daily walk. His dedication to getting in his daily walks so as to garner the monthly reward from his health insurer is just one example of his all-out commitment to a project. Once this realization came to him he worked feverishly (literally and figuratively) to wrap up what worldly business he could in the time allotted. He did get in his request for an epitaph: “Priest, Chaplain & Friend of Francis of Assisi.”
A sketch of the path that led to this epitaph follows:
Tim was born in Los Alamos, New Mexico in what at that time had been the old wood-frame hospital for the Manhattan Project (roughly at the site of the new public library) to Clarence and Mary Berg. While a toddler his family moved to Glendale, California, but returned in time for him to attend Los Alamos Public Schools from kindergarten through junior high. He served as an altar boy at Immaculate Heart of Mary Roman Catholic Church, and in his teen years went on to preliminary seminary studies in Nebraska.
He returned to Los Alamos High School for his 1968-69 senior year, and graduated with the class of 1969. Tim was official photographer for La Loma (LAHS yearbook). He went on to finish his studies for the priesthood at St. Meinrad School of Theology in southern Indiana, whose ways were quite liberal compared to Indiana in general (per Tim). Tim went on to conclude his priestly training at Sacred Heart parish in Albuquerque by the mid-1970s and was ordained. He was assigned to Immaculate Heart Parish in Los Alamos from the late 1970s to mid-1980s. From Los Alamos Tim went on to Eugene, Oregon and served as staff chaplain at Sacred Heart Hospital until the early 1990s.
From Oregon Tim went to serve in the Archdiocese of Seattle and served parishes in rural Lewis County in Toledo and environs. He left the priesthood in 1999 and found employment with the Dahl-McVicker Group of funeral homes in Lewis County, serving as chaplain and doing pre-needs sales. He was able to keep his home and 20-plus acres outside of Chehalis, as a result. Tim said, “There is no golden parachute from the church when you quit.”
From working in the funeral industry Tim went on to work as chaplain at Assured Home Hospice in Centralia, Washington for a decade when he decided to try retirement in the mid-2000s. That period only lasted briefly because he eagerly sought to help his former affiliates bring the Firlawn Funeral Home in Toledo up to 21st Century standards after they acquired it. Tim poured great effort into improving the commercial competitiveness of Firlawn, as well as improving its physical appearance internally and externally. It was after Tim definitively retired that he discovered what he was certain was a melanoma on this right ear. He had it and multiple lymph nodes removed at Virginia Mason in Seattle in the fall of 2021, and subsequently received infusions of Keytruda.
Tim is survived by his brother Tom of Eugene, Oregon and sister Clare of Rainier, Washington. He shared his life as significant other to Tom Munyon of Marysville, Washington from late 2018 until his passing. All are alumni of LAHS.
Tim’s ashes will be interred at Guaje Pines Cemetery in Los Alamos at a date and time to be announced.