Timothy Falk was born with an intellectual disability, but it rarely held him back. His life was cut short when he passed away from cancer in 2020.
Falk was raised on a farm just outside of Niverville. Later in life, he lived in an enVision Community Living home in the community. He loved helping his dad, Bernie Falk, on their farm. He also loved John Deere equipment and going along for rides on trucks or combines.
Falk was also active in the Special Olympics, where he competed in snowshoeing and track. He also participated for many years in the Steinbach Flames track and field program.
Natika Davey, one of Falk’s past community support workers in his enVision home, worked with him for several years. She says they became friends immediately.
“There were so many special things about him… more than you can imagine,” Davey says. “We never had a quiet moment and often laughed until we cried! We laughed about his quirks, and about mine, and about what I may have done that day that he was going to tease me about. Tim liked to have a routine, yet there was never a dull moment. I miss him every single day.”
In 2019, Falk was thrilled to ride in the local truck convoy in support of the Special Olympics. This convoy is an annual event that brings together hundreds of truckers and trucking companies from across Manitoba to celebrate the accomplishments of Special Olympics athletes and raise funds for the next event.
Falk rode along with Adrian Bruce, the Manager of Recruiting and Development for REK Express Inc. Bruce says that the Special Olympics convoy is one of the largest annual events on the Manitoba Trucking Association’s calendar, and as a member of the MTA, the REK Express team is always pleased to have the privilege to support and promote such a very worthy cause.
In addition to his work at REK Express, Bruce also works as a community support worker for enVision. He worked with Falk for close to three years before Falk’s death and says that he considered him a good friend.
“Tim was someone who genuinely made my life better simply by being a part of it,” says Bruce. “He had a genuine appreciation for the opportunities in life and those around him. To see his excitement around participating in the Special Olympics convoy and the courage it took for him to step outside his comfort zone and try something new was very rewarding to all of us involved.”
Falk was disappointed when the convoy was cancelled in 2020 due to the pandemic. But Bruce told Falk that he would arrange for him to go along on the next year’s convoy.
According to Falk’s parents, “Tim asked ‘You promise?’ to which Adrian replied ‘I promise.’”
Within weeks of that conversation, however, Falk was diagnosed with liver cancer—and he passed away on November 25, 2020.
“We laid him to rest on his birthday—December 1, 2020,” says his parents, Bernie and Lillian. “In keeping with his promise, Adrian arranged for one of their drivers, Gary Cox, to honour Tim in this year’s convoy by having Tim’s personal memorabilia, including medals won in Special Olympics competition, ride in the passenger seat of his REK Express truck where Tim would’ve sat during the convoy… We would like to thank all those who made the truck convoy for the Special Olympics a very special memorial for our son.”
