WINDHAM – After 47 years in education, much of that in Windham, Mike Timmons is finally retiring.

Timmons, born and raised in Windham, has served many roles in his career: a special education teacher and administrator, high school principal and assistant superintendent to name a few. For the last 20 years, the enthusiastic Timmons has served as the Cooperative Education director and the adviser to the Windham High School Interact Club.

When not working, Timmons stays busy serving as the president of the Cumberland Farmer’s Club, where he oversees the annual agricultural fair and numerous other events throughout the year.

To mark his retirement, the various aspects of Timmons’ wide-ranging interests are coming together. Timmons, with help from his 36 Interact Club members, is hosting the Cumberland-Windham Family Day at the Cumberland Fairgrounds on Blanchard Road. The May 5 event is part retirement party, part community celebration. And proceeds from a charity auction will go to Make A Wish Foundation and The Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital, organizations that are both near and dear to Timmons.

“Students and other people have said we’d like to do this or that [to mark my retirement] and I said, let’s have a get-together and we’ll have a party and we’ll celebrate by giving to Make-A-Wish and Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital,” Timmons said. “I thought that if I were going to retire, I would want to do something for the little kids who are sick. So I said to the Interact students, if you want to do something, how about we gather up some items from the businesses, bring them to the fair and we’ll have a big auction and a bean supper and a parade and then have tractor/lawnmower racing. We’re just going to have a fun day, that’s all we’re going to do.”

Timmons is getting lots of help from the Interact Club members, who are more than happy to help their adviser and role model.

“This is Mr. Timmons’ last big hurrah, if you will, on his way out,” said junior Alex Brokos, Interact Club president.

“He is the definition of service. Very selfless. He will do anything for anybody,” said Interact Club treasurer Riley Dow, a senior. “He always has new ideas and new ways for us to get involved with the community.”

“He’s always willing to give, always willing to help, so anything we can do, we’re going to do,” added Morgan Dolby, a senior and Interact Club vice president.

Besides organizing a parade, face painting and arts and crafts, another big job the Interact Club members have is to round up auction items from local businesses in the weeks prior to the event. Keenan Auction Co., which has hosted auctions that benefit Windham schools in the past, is conducting a live auction at 3 p.m.

Speaking of his hard-working Interact crew, Timmons says, “They’re the best group of Interact students that I have ever had since being in the school. They’re all sharp kids, they’re leaders, and I couldn’t be more proud.”

Timmons has also invited state Sen. Bill Diamond and his wife, Jane, to act as grand marshals of the parade, which takes place around the racetrack. The longtime friends of Timmons will ride in a wagon at the front of the parade hauled by Timmons, who will be driving a tractor with a boy he’s gotten to know through past volunteer experiences with the Barbara Bush hospital.

“So we’ll have the Diamonds in a wagon up front with a group of kids, some are sick and been part of Barbara Bush, and Make a Wish,” Timmons said. “I’ll be in front with a little boy named Carter, who has to have open-heart surgery for the third or fourth time upcoming in May. Carter loves tractors. He’ll be in a great big John Deere tractor with me in front of the parade. It’ll be great fun.”?Leaving a legacy

Although he now lives at the Cumberland Fairgrounds, Timmons was born and raised in Windham, graduating from Windham High School. After nine years teaching special education at what was then the Pineland Hospital and Training Center in New Gloucester, Timmons came back to work at his alma mater in 1973 as a special education teacher. He worked for five years putting together the high school’s special education program and then was promoted to director of the district’s special education program.

The position led to a promotion to assistant superintendent. In 1985, Timmons was hired to serve also as the Windham High School principal, a position he describes as “the best job of my life, the hardest, too.”

It ended, however, when Timmons got seriously ill in 1991. He took 30 weeks off and came back as the director of the Cooperative Education in 1992, a position he has held since.

The program incorporates many of Timmons’ talents. It links students, many of whom have special needs, with paid jobs in the community. Students attend school half a day and work half a day, earning credit toward graduation for both.

“A lot of these students would have dropped out of school if it wasn’t for co-op,” Timmons said.

Timmons replaced his longtime friend Bruce Elder in the position in 1992. Elder was a few years ahead of Timmons in school and played on the basketball team with him. He remembers Timmons as a leader and motivator, especially in his role as principal when he devised a catchy slogan for the school.

“A big thing with Mike was trying to encourage more pride in the school, and he started the slogan, ‘Just can’t hide Eagle pride,’ which really caught on. You know how kids can take for granted a lot of things not least of which is their school and part of Mike’s mission was to focus on school pride,” Elder said.

The sense of Timmons’ leadership and inspiration is felt throughout the school, from the kids to the top administrators. Superintendent Sandy Prince credits Timmons with helping him make the move to administration. Prince said Timmons was a mentor to him in the early 1980s when Prince had just come to Windham as a special education teacher.

“I remember going to Mike one day and saying, ‘I’m thinking about school leadership,’ and he said, ‘Oh, you should think about an internship under me.’ So we wrote up a plan and it really started me on that journey of learning about how to be a school leader. One thing led to another and thanks to him he really started me on that pathway,” Prince said.

Prince went on to say, “I’ve always respected Mike because he’s such a straight-shooter and he’s always been there for the kids. Even when you go into the high school today, they’ll say Mike is always willing to volunteer to do an extra duty, or to be in the lunchroom monitoring the students. He always goes one step above and beyond the call of duty. And you can really rely on him as a colleague. Mike has been instrumental in this community. He’ll be really missed.”

Timmons is going to miss the job, as well. At 69, after 47 years in education, he says it’s time to retire, but the decision is bittersweet.

“I have very, very mixed feelings about it. I have good feelings when you see my students who are wonderful to work with,” Timmons said. “When you surround yourself with those kinds of nice people and nice students, it’s great. But I am going to miss the fact that for every single morning for the past 47 years I’ve been meeting with students and preparing lessons and that’s been a huge part of my life and, no doubt, I’m going to miss it.”

But first, there’s the big celebration next Saturday. And Timmons, as always, is prepared. He was in Pennsylvania on fair-related business during April vacation, but the Cumberland-Windham Family Day, and especially the bean supper, was forefront in his mind.

“I just bought 120 pounds of beans so I think we’re going to have enough beans for supper!” he said.

Windham High School Interact Club officers, from left, Marissa Michaud, Alex Brokos, Riley Dow and Morgan Dolby surround their advisor Mike Timmons, a longtime Windham educator and president of the Cumberland Fair, in the courtyard at the Windham High School. Timmons and the club are hosting the Cumberland-Windham Family Day on Saturday, May 5, in part to celebrate the retiring Timmons’ 47-year career in local schools.