The Christmas Songs of John P. Timmerman of Lima, Ohio

The Christmas Card Songs of
John Timmerman

by Robb Murray

(please give each piece time to load after clicking)

1 The Birth of Christmas Harmonies worthy of Vaughn-Williams	2 To a Star in the Sky, What Are We, You and I? Lovely chorus	3 Let's Make the Fireplace Glow Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow . . .
4 Prayer at the Millennium Clearly from the 1999 Christmas card	5 One More Christmas at Home Lima hospitality	6 We Are Not Alone Any possible reference to this?
7 Wonderful Place Called Earth	8 Join Us for Christmas	9 If We Find a Way

When I was a kid in Lima, we used to get a beautiful Christmas card every year that contained sheet music: the annual holiday song written by John Timmerman for his friends. Between 150 and 200 copies of his latest song went out each year. The songs were, and still are, a valued means by which John and his wife, Greta, stayed in touch with friends near and far.

The audio portion of these greetings caught up to us when, several years ago, John sent out a CD containing 25 of the songs, arranged by year. He is playing the piano and the songs are sung by Sharon Barr. I have selected nine of my favorites and they are above, with John’s kind permission. I could not resist adding comments after some of the titles.

John is famous for his officer’s role at the Center for UFO Studies. So if some of us read a double meaning into his lyrics, we hope he forgives us. John, thank you for the creative gift of your songs! What could be better than original Christmas greetings from Lima?

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MORE ABOUT JOHN P. TIMMERMAN:

John began his musical entertaining at Cornell University, where he was head of the Glee Club. Later, during WWII, he formed and accompanied a chorus of 35-40 soldiers that would entertain the troops in the evening with popular songs of the day. A highlight of this experience was playing for high-ranking generals and senior officers.

Back in Lima after the war, John gradually took over operation of the Peerless Coal Company as he assisted his father there. From about 1950-1960, they bought up most all of the other local coal companies, consolidating the local supply; heating was moving to oil and gas and coal was trending down. Eventually, John sold out of the industry in 1978 and became a board member of South Side Building and Loan, where he later decided to move over into the PR area.

John has been retired from banking since 1992 but remains active with the UFO Center. John and wife, Greta, sold their Lima home in 1983 and moved to Indian Lake (Lakeview), where they still reside. John continues to compose periodically, and has written a number of songs since 9/11 in pursuit and promotion of world peace. As of December 7, 2006, John was 82 years of age.

He still writes the annual Christmas song, and usually begins to work on it within a week or two after Thanksgiving. The amount of time required to finish a song can vary quite a bit, but the goal is always the same: to touch the listener with a sincere message of love and well-wishes and an invitation to look outward -- to glimpse the exciting possibilities of world peace -- and to catch an awareness of what is really out there and possible to experience in this amazing universe of ours.

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Interview with John P. Timmerman