My condolences to Tim’s wife Sara, his mother Mrs. Chiang, his sisters and the rest of his family, friends and neighbors. I will keep you in my prayers.

I was touched to see the wonderful pictures of Tim with his wife Sara and his family. I am very happy to see the care, support, love and joy he had in life!

I have fond memories of Tim when we were undergraduates at NIU. We both studied in the library room with equipment for blind and low vision students. We happened to have the same visual condition, congenital cataracts resulting in low vision in the left eye. We also both developed acute glaucoma as toddlers, resulting in the lose of our right eyes. I admired Tim for his motivation to use every little bit of vision he had! He was very determined to read standard print and to see as much as he could using various magnification devices. While Tim probably studied harder than anyone, he enjoyed joking with others saying: “Don’t work so hard!” “It’s too early in the semester for this much work!”

Tim was several years ahead of me in the program to become a teacher of both visually impaired students and non disabled students in regular elementary education. Tim was always very thoughtful asking his fellow classmates if he could help them out. We spent hours at the library. We talked about the feasibility of “mainstreaming” (as it was called back then) and what might facilitate a greater degree of social inclusion for students. We learned about our common experiences living with low vision. We shared our frustrations, struggles, and at times, our discouragement. We gave each other support and encouragement when we ran into obstacles. We also shared the strength we felt meeting the challenges in life.

Tim student taught in a regular 4th grade class. He gave his students valuable civics lessons by setting up a democratic student government in the classroom. Upon graduation from NIU, Tim gave the commencement address.

I have been blessed to have Tim as a friend. I will continue to carry with me Tim’s encouragement and support. I will remember to take very good care of myself and honor Tim’s wish to live a happy life!