I recently learned that Tim McCausland, a childhood friend and Kaibab and SHS alumni passed away in 2015. I had not seen him for over thirty years – we gradually fell out of touch after college, living in different states pursuing different lives - but I was deeply affected by the news of his passing.
I met Tim on the lower playground at Kaibab on my first day there, midway through the second grade. Tim and a small group of boys were pretending that the jungle gym was a spaceship, and they invited me to join their adventure. Tim was the captain of course, and the other boys all had prestigious roles like pilot and weapons officer. As the new kid, I was assigned the lowly role of “hatch opener” which I’m pretty sure is not even a thing. Over the years, this became a running joke. Even in college, I would sometimes proceed my opinion with “Well, as the hatch opener, I think … “.
Tim, especially in the early years was not always easy to be with. While never a bully, he teased his friends mercilessly. He was extremely competitive, bossy, and combative – at the Phoenix Zoo, he once punched an emu for pecking him. All of us on that jungle gym – who were to remain close friends for years - were strong willed and opinionated but Tim was absolutely the alpha.
Tim was also imaginative, adventurous, and fun. We had great times biking around Scottsdale, playing pickup football and soccer games, and wandering though the make-believe worlds Tim conjured from our collective imaginations.
We also spent a lot of time arguing about politics, religion, music, and books about which we
had fundamental disagreements. We all became adroit debaters, sharpening our minds and arguments against each other. Tim excelled at these debates. He could readily pivot from logic to ridicule to emotional appeal. It does not surprise me at all that he became a successful lawyer.
Almost all our arguments, however heated they began, ended in laughter. Tim had a wonderful sense of humor and deep appreciation for irony and satire even when his own beliefs were being ridiculed. For example, Tim, a devout Christian, found The Life of Brian to be uproariously funny. While we rarely conceded an argument, we would readily laugh at each other’s jokes. Some of my fondest memories with Tim are the afternoons that ended with all of us lying on the on floor completely abandoning ourselves to laughter. I have seldom laughed like that since.
As we grew older, we spent more time playing the complex board games that Tim excelled at and collected - mostly strategic reenactment of historical battles. Tim who was endlessly inventive would sometimes create his own games on the fly or modify the rules of existing games. Later, he introduced us to Tunnels and Trolls, Phoenix’s answer to Dungeons and Dragons (which we also played).
I first entered Tim’s dungeon in 1975, at the very dawn of the RPG game era. We played all though junior high and high school. We were essentially the Stranger Things kids only ten years earlier, before the world at large had heard of DnD.
While Tim was predictably a pretty harsh dungeon master (I think only about 10% of my characters survived to second level) his dungeons were masterpieces of imagination and design, filled with horrifying creatures, traps, puzzles, intricately designed landscapes, and memorable characters (though all of them had a bit of teenage snark). Half engineer, half poet, Tim brought his worlds to life. I remember some of the dreamscapes he created as vividly as my hikes in the desert.
Tim’s sense of humor was very evident in his dungeon. For example, Tim loved KISS whom I detested and refused to listen to. So Tim maneuvered my characters into a situation that they could only escape by using a series of magical devices, each of which was based on a specific KISS song. I had to listen to the complete KISS cannon to escape the trap.
While never losing the essential fire of his personality, Tim definitely mellowed as he got older –
became kinder, less attached to winning, more playful, more able and willing to listen. These qualities nicely completed the virtues he always had - confidence, courage, the boldness to walk his own path, a vivid and fearless imagination, and a deep loyalty to his friends. People use the phrase “having your back” metaphorically but Tim literally had my back in fights and tense confrontations in elementary and high school. We were there for each other in countless other ways throughout those early years as we navigated the pitfalls of childhood and adolescence.
I am sorry that Tim is gone. When I last saw him, he was well on his way and seemed happy.
I will be forever grateful for his friendship and for the lessons he taught me. In the end, we are shaped as much by our friends as our teachers. Tim taught me to be bold, to speak and defend my truth, and to live life with passion and imagination. He also introduced me to the world of role-playing games which have brought me many good times and great friends over the years.
Note I posted versions of these comments on the Scottsdale High School and Kaibab Elementary facebook Alumni sites.
Thank you for posting this very nice memoriam for Tim. I had no idea. I too feel a deep pain, as this news hits me, for another friend I had lost touch with over the years. I remember Tim of course - what a personality! I also recall the many losses of my painfully developed players in Tunnels and Trolls, including "Sir Rexalot" who succumbed to one of Tim's ingenious traps in his maze of dungeons. Your story telling brings back many fond memories. Those good times and laughs include you too; I'm glad to see your familiar style! I have taken some comfort over the years that most of the old folks are still around, even if I don't see them regularly. The loss of Tim reminds me that is not entirely accurate and there are others who aren't here as well. May Tim rest in peace.
I am not on Facebook so was unable to see the Kaibab posts, but appreciate this listing from SHS. I hope you are doing well and best wishes to all of our classmates - SHS '79 and of course Kaibab '75! I look forward to the next reunions.
Jon Christiansen (Christiansen)
I recently learned that Tim McCausland, a childhood friend and Kaibab and SHS alumni passed away in 2015. I had not seen him for over thirty years – we gradually fell out of touch after college, living in different states pursuing different lives - but I was deeply affected by the news of his passing.
I met Tim on the lower playground at Kaibab on my first day there, midway through the second grade. Tim and a small group of boys were pretending that the jungle gym was a spaceship, and they invited me to join their adventure. Tim was the captain of course, and the other boys all had prestigious roles like pilot and weapons officer. As the new kid, I was assigned the lowly role of “hatch opener” which I’m pretty sure is not even a thing. Over the years, this became a running joke. Even in college, I would sometimes proceed my opinion with “Well, as the hatch opener, I think … “.
Tim, especially in the early years was not always easy to be with. While never a bully, he teased his friends mercilessly. He was extremely competitive, bossy, and combative – at the Phoenix Zoo, he once punched an emu for pecking him. All of us on that jungle gym – who were to remain close friends for years - were strong willed and opinionated but Tim was absolutely the alpha.
Tim was also imaginative, adventurous, and fun. We had great times biking around Scottsdale, playing pickup football and soccer games, and wandering though the make-believe worlds Tim conjured from our collective imaginations.
We also spent a lot of time arguing about politics, religion, music, and books about which we
had fundamental disagreements. We all became adroit debaters, sharpening our minds and arguments against each other. Tim excelled at these debates. He could readily pivot from logic to ridicule to emotional appeal. It does not surprise me at all that he became a successful lawyer.
Almost all our arguments, however heated they began, ended in laughter. Tim had a wonderful sense of humor and deep appreciation for irony and satire even when his own beliefs were being ridiculed. For example, Tim, a devout Christian, found The Life of Brian to be uproariously funny. While we rarely conceded an argument, we would readily laugh at each other’s jokes. Some of my fondest memories with Tim are the afternoons that ended with all of us lying on the on floor completely abandoning ourselves to laughter. I have seldom laughed like that since.
As we grew older, we spent more time playing the complex board games that Tim excelled at and collected - mostly strategic reenactment of historical battles. Tim who was endlessly inventive would sometimes create his own games on the fly or modify the rules of existing games. Later, he introduced us to Tunnels and Trolls, Phoenix’s answer to Dungeons and Dragons (which we also played).
I first entered Tim’s dungeon in 1975, at the very dawn of the RPG game era. We played all though junior high and high school. We were essentially the Stranger Things kids only ten years earlier, before the world at large had heard of DnD.
While Tim was predictably a pretty harsh dungeon master (I think only about 10% of my characters survived to second level) his dungeons were masterpieces of imagination and design, filled with horrifying creatures, traps, puzzles, intricately designed landscapes, and memorable characters (though all of them had a bit of teenage snark). Half engineer, half poet, Tim brought his worlds to life. I remember some of the dreamscapes he created as vividly as my hikes in the desert.
Tim’s sense of humor was very evident in his dungeon. For example, Tim loved KISS whom I detested and refused to listen to. So Tim maneuvered my characters into a situation that they could only escape by using a series of magical devices, each of which was based on a specific KISS song. I had to listen to the complete KISS cannon to escape the trap.
While never losing the essential fire of his personality, Tim definitely mellowed as he got older –
became kinder, less attached to winning, more playful, more able and willing to listen. These qualities nicely completed the virtues he always had - confidence, courage, the boldness to walk his own path, a vivid and fearless imagination, and a deep loyalty to his friends. People use the phrase “having your back” metaphorically but Tim literally had my back in fights and tense confrontations in elementary and high school. We were there for each other in countless other ways throughout those early years as we navigated the pitfalls of childhood and adolescence.
I am sorry that Tim is gone. When I last saw him, he was well on his way and seemed happy.
I will be forever grateful for his friendship and for the lessons he taught me. In the end, we are shaped as much by our friends as our teachers. Tim taught me to be bold, to speak and defend my truth, and to live life with passion and imagination. He also introduced me to the world of role-playing games which have brought me many good times and great friends over the years.
Note I posted versions of these comments on the Scottsdale High School and Kaibab Elementary facebook Alumni sites.
Rexford Ross (Ross)
Jon,
Thank you for posting this very nice memoriam for Tim. I had no idea. I too feel a deep pain, as this news hits me, for another friend I had lost touch with over the years. I remember Tim of course - what a personality! I also recall the many losses of my painfully developed players in Tunnels and Trolls, including "Sir Rexalot" who succumbed to one of Tim's ingenious traps in his maze of dungeons. Your story telling brings back many fond memories. Those good times and laughs include you too; I'm glad to see your familiar style! I have taken some comfort over the years that most of the old folks are still around, even if I don't see them regularly. The loss of Tim reminds me that is not entirely accurate and there are others who aren't here as well. May Tim rest in peace.
I am not on Facebook so was unable to see the Kaibab posts, but appreciate this listing from SHS. I hope you are doing well and best wishes to all of our classmates - SHS '79 and of course Kaibab '75! I look forward to the next reunions.
--Rex Ross--