Salmon River Scene Photo by Jack McNeel
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Life in the Wilderness
By Jack McNeel Doug and Phyllis Tims live half of each year in one of the most remote areas in the lower 48 states, literally surrounded by millions of acres of wild country – the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness in central Idaho. And they couldn’t be happier! For Doug this is not surprising. He grew up near the Mississippi River
and followed his father on fishing, hunting, and boating trips. “These had a profound effect on my connection to the outdoors,” Doug relates. On the other hand, Phyllis was raised in Santa Barbara, California on a ranch that she says was “kind of out in the boondocks” although right above the beach. Most of her life until she and Doug married in 2001 was about as far removed from the wilderness as one could get. While her father served in World War II, Phyllis and her mother lived in town with Phyllis’ grandparents. A Russian immigrant ballerina neighbor offered dance classes and Phyllis became a student. “I didn’t start dancing until I was three,” she says, but her teacher had danced with many famous dancers. “She was very, very good and I was fortunate to have extremely good training at the very beginning.” Phyllis studied ballet throughout high school, earned an undergraduate degree at the University of Arizona in education, and then went to the University of Utah for graduate school in modern dance. From there it was a career as a professional dancer that took her throughout the United States and internationally. As Phyllis explains, “Dancers’ lives are kind of like athletes. There’s a limited time frame.” So nearing 40, she began looking for a new direction, applied to the University of Hawaii, and began a new career in academia. Phyllis later took a year’s leave from Hawaii to be a guest artist at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. She then served as chair of the modern dance department at the University of Utah. Later she was named Dean of the College of Fine Arts and (Continued on page 19)