Timothy Steven "Tym" Lynch

Timothy Steven Lynch, known to his friends as Tym, was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, on April 15, 1949, and passed away on October 7, 2025. Tym was the eldest son of Ruth Davis Kitchell Lynch and Robert O'Keefe Lynch, both natives of Indianapolis.

Tym wasn't in the Midwest for long when he was a kid. As he explained it, "At the age of one, after my first cold and snowy winter, I told my parents, 'I'm heading to California. Do you want to drive?'" They moved onto the rabbit ranch of Tym's grandmother, Cora Smith Lynch, outside of Riverside, California. Besides rabbits, it was home to cats, dogs, chickens, geese, and a wide variety of native wildlife. They shared this compound life with many of Tym's aunts and uncles and their families. It was there that Tym's earliest and oldest friends, brothers Larry and Patrick, were born.

Tym spent his primary school years at Pedley Elementary, then Rubidoux High School. In high school, he focused on electronics, with a foundation in mathematics, but he had a particular fondness for theater. His first college major was geology at University of California, Riverside. Tragedy struck the family when Tym's father died suddenly at the age of 49. Tym transferred from UCR to San Bernardino Valley College, where his major changed to his lifelong predilection: radio, television, programming, and production. He maintained his First Class Radiotelephone license from the FCC until the license's deregulation at the end of the Reagan administration.

Tym's first job after college was with KFWJ in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, as a disc jockey. He and his first wife Cynthia had a son, Jason. When their marriage ended, Tym moved closer to his mother and brothers in Riverside, California. He eventually met and married Barbara, and they shared a son, Dustin. After his divorce from Barbara, Tym was granted full custody of Dustin.

During an arid period of Tym's radio career, he took a temporary job in Riverside with the Social Security Administration. He loved helping people navigate through their benefits and directing them toward retirement. His presentation skills led him to assist in SSA presentations and promotional and educational videos. His temporary job with SSA stationed him in Riverside, California; Colorado Springs, Sterling, and Greeley, Colorado; Rapid City, South Dakota; and Baltimore, Maryland. He retired after 20 years, in Greeley, Colorado, from his "temporary" job with the Social Security Administration.

Tym always kept a side job in television or radio. In 1979, while employed at Social Security, he worked part-time at KTVS in Sterling, Colorado, where he did commercial voice work and filled in as a newsman. It was here that he met his future wife, Nancy Halcomb, the KTVS art director. She knew he was the one for her when she noticed children and animals sitting on his lap, gleeful in his company, wherever he went. Nancy and Tym were married on September 20, 1980.

Tym delighted in celebrating St. Patrick's Day and Yuletide holidays; vacationing with family; dancing with everyone he could; collecting and running model trains; studying history; reading up on and listening to jazz, folk, rock, and Irish music; drumming in the Rocky Mountain Oysters band; and following Hollywood cinema. His love of movies led him to be a featured monthly movie reviewer, which organically grew into a comedy routine with Matt Arguello, aka "the Big Kahuna," on 104.7 Pirate Radio in Greeley, Colorado.

Tym and Nancy's love of ancient arts, theater, genealogy, research, history, and fantasy intertwined when they discovered the Society of Creative Anachronism in 1992. A Middle Ages re-creation group, the SCA enhanced their lives, broadened their minds, and gave them opportunities to develop rich, lifelong friendships. Tym enjoyed heavy weapons fighting in armor that he made himself. He became adept at the medieval arts of blacksmithing, armor construction, pavilion camping, silversmithing, bow and arrow construction, Schläger fencing, medieval dancing, bodhran (Irish drum) playing, leather crafting, and singing.

When Nancy was employed with the City of Greeley Museums complex, Tym volunteered for every history festival and animal-related event, engaging all ages with his energetic voice and sense of humor. His skills included demonstrating and teaching 19th century baseball (back when the umpire carried a gun), rope making, printing, cowboy campfire cooking, blacksmithing, firearms, streetcars, and baby barnyard animals. But his favorite was dressing as his Halloween character, Judge Roy Has-Been, the dead judge. He wore an outfit à la Clint Eastwood gunfighter in spaghetti westerns and sat behind a western-style minibar. Tym, engaging each child with Monty Python-like humor, pronounced them innocent and instructed the bailiff to award them a treat. For four days every October, kids lined up for a block to see the judge. From his museum volunteering, he received the President's Volunteer Service Award in 2015 from President Barack Obama.

After Tym was diagnosed with Alzheimer's, he and Nancy relocated near their son Dustin, daughter-in-law Vanessa, and grandson Julian in a Victorian double in Indianapolis that all five could share. The two found a dancing Silver Sneakers group they loved and helped to start The Black Hats Society of Historic Irvington, a troupe that dances and drums, dressed as witches, at the Historic Irvington Halloween Festival and other events while raising money for charity.

Even after details of Tym's past were lost from Alzheimer's, he never stopped loving music and dancing. In the nursing facility where he spent his final three years, he's remembered by staff and residents for his dancing, his charm, and his radio voice announcing classic hits and humming along with his favorites. He was delighted by those who visited, especially Nancy. Occasionally, though most words escaped him, he would pop up with an "Oh boy!" or "Woo Hoo!" when offered a pedicure or a shave with a facial a couple of times a week.

Tym loved his family. He is survived by his wife Nancy Lourine Lynch; his son Dustin O'Keefe Lynch (Vanessa Lynch) and grandson Julian Lynch; his firstborn son Jason Lynch (Julee Lynch) and granddaughters Tayler, Sara, and Jayden Lynch; his brothers Larry Davis (Laura Davis) and Patrick Lynch O'Keefe (Amy O'Keefe); and his nephews Sean and Shane and his niece Shannon.

Tym was proceeded in death by his father, Robert O'Keefe Lynch, his mother, Ruth Davis Kitchell Lynch, and his nephew Jeremy Lynch.

Gifts in Tym's memory can be made to the Alzheimer's Association or Joy's House, which offers adult dementia day care services and caregiver support in Indianapolis. We offer condolences to all who knew and loved Tym, but additional condolences to those who did not, for he was a man worth knowing, and a true and loving friend.