William Timming, 1940-2013: Buckeye Beer collector made binders for Bell

7/6/2013

William Timming, who spent his career at a small manufacturer and became a devoted collector of memorabilia from his father’s longtime employer, the former Buckeye Brewing Co., died of heart failure Sunday in Regency Hospital, Sylvania. He was 72.

Mr. Timming of West Toledo retired about 2006 from Bell Binders, where he was hired after his 1959 Woodward High School graduation.

A decade later, he became a foreman for the firm and oversaw the company’s production of loose-leaf binders, sales presentation materials, and visual displays.

But he was a “working foreman,” his daughter, Brenda Huff, said. “Working. Physical working.”

He cut materials for orders, set up machines, contacted customers, and made deliveries. He was unfailingly respectful as he assigned work to the women in the shop.

“I’m sort of an all-round person here after all these years,” Mr. Timming told The Blade in 1983. “There’s a lot of challenge. It’s different every day. You see the finished piece and you feel proud because you’re the guy who set it up and you did it from scratch.”

His father was a 37-year employee of Buckeye Brewing, which upon its 1972 closing was Toledo’s second-oldest business and the second-oldest brewery in the country.

“I was born and raised on Buckeye Beer,” he told The Blade in 2008. He and his wife, Beverly, started a modest collection of signs, posters, ads, and cans — “anything Buckeye, original,” their daughter said.

In time, he joined the Toledo-based Buckeye chapter of the Beer Collectibles Club of America and attended shows locally and around the country featuring “breweriana,” as devotees call the objects they seek.

Mr. Timming’s specialty became tap handles, the rarer the better. And his son-in-law became president of the local chapter.

Dick Adamowicz, a founder of the local chapter said: “I’ve known him for 12 years, but I felt I’ve known him for a lifetime.”

At chapter functions, “he was always the go-to guy,” Mr. Adamowicz said. “When we had a [collectors’] show, he was there. When we had picnics, he was there helping out.”

Mr. Timming easily struck up friendships and met people by attending his granddaughter Alyssa “Lu” Huff’s soccer games at Central Catholic High School, in Sylvania and, most recently, at Siena Heights University in Adrian.

“He was such a nice guy,” his daughter said. “He made everybody feel welcome and comfortable.”

He was born Aug. 25, 1940, to Marie and William F. Timming and grew up in North Toledo.

Surviving are his wife, Beverly, whom he married May 23, 1952; son, Brian; daughter, Brenda Huff; sister, Jacqueline McCarty; brother, Frank Timming, and five grandchildren.

Services are at noon today in the Ansberg-West Funeral Home, where visitation will begin at 10 a.m.

The family suggests tributes to the American Heart Association.

Contact Mark Zaborney at: mzaborney@theblade.com or 419-724-6182.