Health & Fitness
Remembering & Celebrating Cliff Timm who would have been 93 on Mar 24
Remembering & celebrating Cliff Timm's Pickerel Lake & Lilyldale Park generosity and legacy. Mar 24, Cliff would have been 93. His love of fishing brought aeration, a boat ramp and vision to Pickerel.
Mar 24, Cliff Timm (on left in photo) was born in 1919. He passed away 12.05. While Cliff is sorely missed, he left a beautiful legacy. Cliff loved clean lakes & good fishing. He wanted those things accessible to everyone & especially all young people. Anyone who knew Cliff will recall a very vocal advocate. Cliff loved Pickerel Lake. He funded the aeration system that keeps fish alive year round. Cliff is also the reason we have the Pickerel boat ramp. Cliff & his friends often fished @ Pickerel. Friends of LP is advocating to ensure Cliff's easy non-motorized boat access remains a part of Pickerel's future. It's not guaranteed in the current development plans.
12.24.04 the Pioneer Press ran an illustrative story about Cliff titled "Benefactor's donation helps fulfill fish wish - Angling enthusiast's $32,000 to fund Pickerel Lake improvements. Staff writer, Karl J. Karlson described well Cliff's passion for city folk to easily access fishing opportunities without great expense or difficulty.
He described how the Saint Paul City Council accepted Cliff's gift to aerate a portion of Pickerel Lake and create a small boat landing, which many people enjoy to this day. Cliff loved telling (true) fish tales about large northern's, sunnies and all kinds of fish he and friends pulled out of Pickerel.
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The article described Cliff's 15 years of advocacy to increase fishing access at Pickerel - and how he wasn't done yet. Cliff (and others) often described - as mentioned in the article - how the best Pickerel fishing is in the lake's SE corner - only accessible by boat or dangeroulsy walking the active railroad track. Many people continue to do just that. Cliff had a dream that one day Saint Paul Parks would build a boardwalk so people could safely get to that deepest part of the lake.
Friends of Lilydale Park continues to be inspired and motivated to action by Cliff Timm's vision, generosity and advocacy to improve Lilydale Park & Pickerel Lake access and amenities.
Copies of the 12.24.04 Pioneer Press article are available for purchase at the newspaper's archive website.
