Deb and Tim: Rekindled Love After 40 Years
By Lynette Loomis
Deb Gonyea, a pretty cheerleader, and Tim Smith, a soccer star, fell in love at age 14 and stayed together throughout four years of high school. While their families did not discourage this early love, the couple seemed perfect for each other.
But life had other plans for them.
Deb went to college in Plattsburg, and Tim graduated from the University of Rochester. As this was well before cell phones and social media, staying connected was virtually impossible. The couple split, going on to separate marriages, each having two children— they lost contact with each other.
News of Tim’s mom’s death in early 2012 traveled through the grapevine, reaching Deb, who had been teaching in Virginia Beach for more than 30 years. She sent a sympathy card to Tim, who taught in Victor for 33 years. And one thing led to another. Through the first part of that year, they talked daily on the phone and Deb came to visit him four times.
During their second courtship, Deb would check her school mailbox every day to find an envelope from Tim. Each would contain a letter she had written to him four decades ago. He had kept every one of them. He loves to tell people, “Yeah, it took me a long time to play those cards.”
They are a living love song.
“The things I always appreciated about Tim were still the same. His patience and his sense of humor. He balances my energy in a positive way,” Deb said.
Tim has his perspective: “Deb has such positive and loving energy and is so outgoing, I have always been drawn to her like a magnet.”
Tim and Deb live near the four corners of Mendon in a building that, when they were kids, was a combination residence and “mom-and-pop” hardware store. The latter portion has been turned into an expansive display of memorabilia. Their home is a living museum of the things they love.
Next door to them is the office of the Mendon-Honeoye Falls-Lima Sentinel. Newspaper publisher Chris Carosa enjoyed their personal story so much that he encouraged them to write about it. That was a decade ago and since then the Smiths have volunteered their time to write two weekly columns for the Sentinel, as well as various news stories which appear on the front page. Residents have come to rely upon Tim and Deb to become their conduit to the community for sharing events and issues that affect local life.
“Tim and Deb Smith are keeping the flame of community reporting burning in print, with their weekly columns and inspiring features. Add that to this super couple’s ability to educate, inform, inspire and motivate us all, with their incredible wit and whimsy, knowledge, and thoughtful subjects,” said former Miss USA Mary Therese Friel, who is a friend and a neighbor. “I don’t know how this dynamic duo does it all. They report, relive, reveal, rejuvenate and absolutely stun us with their wisdom. This down-to-earth, very special and loving couple grace our town with welcome arms and pens in hands, sharing their warm and sincere company. They truly are, one — make that two — in a million!”
After noticing the reaction of the community to their newspaper columns, Sentinel publisher Carosa encouraged them to tackle the task of authoring a book. While that opportunity was tantalizing, the task of writing 50,000 words on a single topic seemed daunting. Tim and Deb took the approach that, “When the time is right, God will send us a sign.”
That sign appeared in an early 2019 news article where the Smiths read that within 30 days of that upcoming summer, it would be the 50th anniversaries of the first man on the moon, the Manson murders, Chappaquiddick, the Woodstock Music Festival and their sign from God! It was also the 50th anniversary of the month that Tim and Deb met. That scenario inspired their first book, “The Beatles, the Bible & Manson: Reflecting Back with 50 Years of Perspective.”
Deb said it can be difficult to explain their writing style. “One reviewer calls our writing something akin to Gonzo journalism in that we immerse ourselves in the time period, mixing fact and fiction. We both enjoy melding humor and satire into our writing. If only one of us appreciated this style of irreverent writing, we couldn’t work together. We often laugh out loud at our own jokes. He makes me laugh like no other,” she explained.
Their schedules are intense. Each book takes about a year to research and write, in addition to their weekly columns. Reviewers and readers call their work impish and anti-establishment, brilliant, engaging, entertaining, with clever combinations of tragedy and comedy.
Among other shared passions is their love of music. When they attended back-to-back Beach Boys concerts in Niagara Falls, Canada, the first night was Deb’s 50th and the second night was Tim’s 100th Beach Boys concert. Their Beach Boys connection was enhanced when Tim had his Mendon-Honeoye Falls summer recreation program stage a photograph. He posed 45 kids lying on beach towels, spelling out the Beach Boys logo. They submitted the photo to the Beach Boys, who loved it and used it on an album cover.
One unique aspect of their writing is the frequent use of poetry to add some punch and pizazz. Tim explained, “I’ll share one example. Connecting some dots, the summer before the Manson murders, Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson allowed Charles Manson’s family cult to move into his house in Venice, California, a decision which obviously had some pros and cons.” About this scenario, Tim and Deb wrote the following limerick…
There once was a Beach Boy named Dennis
Who lived in a beach house in Venice
Surf’s up, California
But Dennis we warn ya
Those hippie chicks can be a menace
Another of their passions is their foundation in the heritage of the Native American cause, Tim’s with the Seneca Nation and Deb’s with the Mohawk Nation. Peter Jemison, the Native American leader of the Ganondagan State Historic Site in Victor, officiated their wedding.
Senior columnist Sal Maiorana of the Rochester “Democrat and Chronicle” added his perspective on the work Tim and Deb Smith have done for the Mendon-Honeoye Falls-Lima Sentinel. “At a time when local newspapers are falling faster than the leaves in October, the work that Tim and Deb are doing with their publications is vital to the preservation of local news. And taking that a step further, their devotion to the history of Rochester and its surrounding area is equally as important and passionate. It shines through in this wonderful compilation of priceless stories that, woven together, tell much about the rich history of Monroe County. I say this as someone who has been fighting the good fight at the Democrat and Chronicle for 40 years.”