Tim Wood #40: 'Le Conte held his heart'

Debora Wood designed Tim's gravestone to feature the four peaks of Le Conte

 
 When Tim and Debora Wood were married in 1982, they honeymooned in Gatlinburg and decided on the spur of the moment to take a hike up the Alum Cave Bluff trail.
 "We had no water, no snacks, nothing to prepare for an 11-mile hike," Debora said. "I think we both had on ridiculous shoes. We made it to Alum Cave, where we discussed heading back to the car. We decided to press on, and within a few minutes on the trail about 40 feet ahead, was a black bear. We stopped to see what he was going to do, and he eventually climbed up the mountain and left the trail.
 "We continued on, telling ourselves we would get a Coke from the machine at the Lodge. Ha-ha! We eventually reached the Lodge, thirsty and hungry. There were the most wonderful smells wafting from the kitchen as they were preparing for dinner. Fresh butter was on the tables and baskets of cookies. No one was around, so we didn't think they would mind too much if we took a cookie. We found the water pump and drank and ate our cookie.
 "Out of shape and unused to this type of strenuous hiking, we were miserable for the next couple of days. So began our life and love of the Smokies."

Tim kept hiking despite cancer 

 Tim worked for General Electric in Louisville, Ky., and his family made annual vacation trips to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. "He would hike other trails—he liked the Greenbrier area also—but Le Conte held his heart," Debora said.
 About 15 years ago, they began coming twice a year, in February and November. "He never missed a hike, even in rain and snow," Debora said. "There were a few times we looked at the forecast just so he could hike in the snow."
 Tim didn't keep count of how many times he climbed Le Conte, but with Debora's recollections, we have estimated 30-40 times—"at least four times with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer," she said. "Such a trooper and lover of life. He fought really hard to live."
 On July 10, 2018, Tim died at age 67, and he was laid to rest in Beech Grove Cemetery near Shrewsbury, Kentucky. Debora designed his gravestone to feature a granite profile of the ridgeline of Mount Le Conte—as viewed from the Park Vista Hotel in Gatlinburg, where he always requested a room facing the mountain.
 "Tim was a man of many talents—sailor, photographer, artist, nature-lover, and hiker," Debora said, "but most of all a great husband and dad."

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