My good friend, Tim Bawden, recently died. He was a treasure to all who love this state, all who treasure the local, the authentic, the sense of place.

We got to be friends while grad students in Geography at University of Wisconsin-Madison. The friendship was cemented over beers at the Terrace. The stories are legion.

He was a fun-loving person, and in that spirit I post this image of a map he made wayyyyyy back in grad school. It was so hilarious I kept it all these years! Below that, some explanatory text (good luck with the German!–I had to use his family’s pre-WWI “echt Deutsch” spelling for his name!).

Tim was very proud of & very knowledgeable about Wisconsin’s heritage, particularly its German heritage. He was originally from Sheboygan Falls. To him Wisconsin culture was centered on Sheboygan. According to The Bawden General Theory on Wisconsin, you could run a distance decay function and find in any & all tests (accent, culinary traditions, Packer Fan-dom, fishing & hunting prowess, etc.) that Wisconsin-ness lessened the farther you were from Sheboygan. And he could prove it, too!

Tim was too young to die (47). He was a beloved UW Eau Claire professor, and beloved by all who came upon him.

I’m not a good obit writer. Here is the Eau Claire paper’s version. But I’m also going to include some things written by his other friends from grad school & beyond.

From Karen T:

While I didn’t know Tim as well as many of you, he helped me understand the Midwest and Wisconsin. His love of his home, that included so much humor in his storytelling, still remains such an important part of my fond memories of grad school and Madison. We will miss his generous soul. It is also tragic for all of us to know of his struggle and perhaps we can learn to figure out better ways (as a society) to prevent this disease from the harm it does to us all. Wendy surely must be having an especially difficult time for all sorts of reasons, so for those of you who can make the service,please do send our love as a group as well.

A sad, big hug, xx Karen

From Mary B:

[The] comment about Tim’s ‘thriftiness’ immediately
made me remember how he’d go over to the University Bookstore and pick up discarded receipts,
if any were around, so he could cash them in with others.  What a dumb thing to remember about him.
Of course I remember a lot else, too:  his good nature, his intelligence, his lack of pretense, his
kindness, so many things.  Just makes it all that much sadder.

This is indeed a very sad time for some really good friends. We’ll miss Tim forever. Our very best wishes go out to Wendy & Max.