I’d been thinking a lot lately, based on all the activism Robert and I have gotten involved in since we came to HoCo, what makes some people care so much about making their communities better places to live in and others…well, not so much. At the weekly Black Lives Matter (BLM) protest near the Columbia Mall this past Sunday afternoon, I thought, “How come some of us are standing on a street corner on a chilly, breezy April evening holding up signs emblazoned with racial justice slogans until our arms tire and beyond? How come yet other HoCo-ans are driving by preoccupied with whatever business they have at the mall, looking down at their phones, laughing and talking to one another seemingly oblivious to the dire message we BLM-ers are rallying about?” I wondered this with no judgment. My question isn’t one that seeks the answer to why some people are “good” or “bad,” “liberal” or “conservative,” “moral” or “immoral.” It’s more nuanced than that. What I was wondering about that evening and moving forward is why some people see their communities as places where they can and should take action that will affect change therein, while others see them as places, to live, plain and simple, and it is what is is.
This is how I framed my wish to interview Tim and Debi (“TiBi”?) Lattimer, an activist couple in the county whose level of engagement on various fronts makes RoCo’s look like amateur hour. They don’t just volunteer their time, they take on leadership positions, frame debates, and construct solutions. They do the work. It’ll surprise few of you to know though, as smart and experienced as they are. that in an hour over Middle Eastern fare at Syriana in Old Ellicott City, Tim, Debi, and I came to no definitive answers as to what makes some people activists and others oh-whatever-ists. I did learn a lot about the Lattimers and how at the very least their partnership (their marriage) makes them a powerful force for change. For as the contemporary adage goes, we–and they–are stronger together.
Retirement Shetirement
“I failed at retirement,” Tim said, starting us off with a laugh. He has a sharp wit, and I love that I sort of forget about it and then get caught pleasantly off guard by it.
Related: 5 reasons you must attend HoCo’s first LGBTQ+ Pride Celebration.
Tim retired from the State Department in 2017 only to return a couple months later at the request of the Department. He’s a Senior Adviser in the Office of Global Change, an office he was Deputy Director of and Acting Director of before. It’s primary goal is working on solutions to the global threat that is climate change. Whaddya’ know! Someone in the Federal Government understands climate change is happening and we have to act to ameliorate it.
“That office is part of the State Department’s Bureau of Oceans, Environment, and Science,” Tim told me as vaguely mournful Eqyptian musical notes wound their ways among us on the second floor of Syriana. Just then what looked like a window in a sorceress’ forest cabin opened up and a fair hand pushed our food toward us. It closed as abruptly as it had opened, a fact Tim and Debi seemed to find less exciting than I did along with the creaky winding staircase the three of us climbed to get to the second floor. The room was decorated with wood inlay chess sets and trays–one of which I purchased for mother for Mother’s Day. Tim and Debi, I assumed, were right at home in the exotic ambiance of Syriana having traveled the world during Tim’s years in the foreign service.
Navigating Careers and Lives
“I’m a behavioral health navigator–which is like a social work position–at Howard County Hospital. Debi laughed when I said I had assumed she and Tim were retired given how much time they devote to activism.
“I don’t think I’ve worked enough in my life to be retired,” Debi said. In their years overseas Debi stayed home with their two children, Micaela, 18, and Gabriel, 20.
Debi has two Master’s degrees, one in Social Work from the University of Madison in Wisconsin and the other in Public Health from UCLA. She made a living as a hospital social worker for “a lot of years” before Tim joined the State Department and their lives became peripatetic. And even before all that, she was a Peace Corps Volunteer. Debi’s father was a Lutheran Minister and that lead, as one might expect, to her attending Wartburg College in Iowa as an undergraduate, as its affiliated with the Lutheran Church. There she got a Bachelor’s in social work.
Tim grew up in Southern California, and he attended California State University at Fullerton where he got his Bachelor’s degree in Economics. Then he got his Master’s in Environmental Science at the same school.
“I worked for about a decade in environmental planning,” Tim told me as I took a bite of my tabouleh, the one that had appeared out of a culinary cubby hole a moment ago, invoking The Princess Bride, one of my favorite movies. Tim worked with various environmental planning and engineering firms. After that, he worked for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which is the wholesaler of water for the all of Southern California.
“I was detailed with the U.S. Water Partnership for my last year with the State Department, which was 2017.” Tim said holding a napkin demurely over his mouth to respond to my incessant question, unconcerned as I was that he had to chewed his falafel.
“Now I’m in a position at the State Department in which I can only work half the year–or the equivalent of half the year–,” he said.
He looked over at Debi as she added, “–so he works Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday usually, and I work Friday, Saturday, Sunday.”
“That way we always have a parent around for the kids,” Tim said, smiling his comforting smile.
I told Tim and Debi how that was a great example of what this article to get at about how their life together interlocks, so to speak. One of them picks up the slack to allow the other to let go of it. This is true nowhere more than in their joint approach to activism. I made a tangled mess of my fingers when I tried to interlace them to represent this thought visually. Tim laughed and leaned back in his chair a little, his starkly white hair swaying in the breeze of the overhead fan a little. He’s very tall, so naturally he was closer to it than Debi and me.
Lean On Me
Despite my clumsy visual, I truly think one of their strengths is how they can depend on each other. That way, the various activist organizations they work with–Indivisible, Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Columbia (UUCC), Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense (Moms), and the Democratic Central Committee–have, when either one of them offers their time and energy, the time and energy of the other too, if need be.
For example, once at a Moms meeting when Debi couldn’t make it, there was Tim in the distinctive Moms red t-shirt. Another time, Tim gave a talk at UUCC and Debi quietly gave him what looked like well-received advice during a brief, quiet, tete-a-tete at the podium, full of nodding and “OKs” from Tim.
It Takes One to Know One
Debi’s like me: she wears her emotions on her face, unmistakably. I enjoyed seeing her wide smile and dark, jolly eyes across from me that day at Syriana. So often when we’re together we’re in intense, even charged, situations like a Moms gun violence vigil or an Indivisible event about how to respond to the latest atrocity from the Trump White House, or testimony at the HoCo Council on the environmental challenges facing the area. At those times we both have furrowed brows and crossed arms. But not today. I caught us both smiling salaciously at the four, succulent stuffed grape leaves in front of her.
Apples That Fell Not Far From The Trees
“We adopted our son, Gabe, from Bolivia and he’s 20. We adopted Micaela, who’s 18, from Peru,” Debi told me.
Both Mikaela and Gabe are showing signs of having inheriting their parents zeal for effecting change.
‘”Gabe is president of the Gay Straight Alliance at Howard Community College. He’s also secretary of the Student Government Association at Howard Community College” Debi told me. Tim, meanwhile, showed me a video of a rousing speech Micaela gave on gun violence prevention.
And: See what local faith leader Regina Clay said about spiritual leadership in Maryland.
“I was adopted,” Debi told me before listing all the many states she and her family had lived. She worked as a medical social worker, and she and Tim met at an event for a group called Beyond War at a Unitarian Universalist Church in Long Beach.”
“…even though at the time neither of us was affiliated with them. That was October 24th, 1998.” Tim chimed in. Debi smiled at that, marveling how he remembered the exact date.
Beyond War, Tim explained, was an activist organization created by folks in Palo Alto who were concerned about the growing threat of nuclear war between the U.S. and what was then the Soviet Union.
Tim had been involved as an anti-nuclear activist since the 1970s, but as he put it, he got burned out. He got re-involved with it through Beyond War around 1984 because of its positive message.
“The threat of a nuclear holocaust, if you will, was just so overwhelming to most people they just shut down. It was so scary, and they felt like they couldn’t do anything about it. It’s kind of like it is with climate change…”
“…Yes!” Debi proclaimed.
Beyond War, Tim continued, focused on each member’s own personal connection to the issue, and the reality is we are all one. The principles it articulated were about not being preoccupied with enemies, but about resolving conflict–building a world beyond war. The organization grew and had a marked effect on the anti-nuclear movement at the time.
Tim then shifted seamlessly to speaking about his and Debi’s relationship, evidence of the fact that progressive activism is part of the foundation of their partnership. After they met in 1988 and were engaged a year later to the day.
“And I got involved with Beyond War organization when it gave me an award because I was a returning Peace Corps volunteer.”
HoCo, Here We Come!
Tim and Debit first moved to Howard County in 2002 when they returned from overseas.
“We picked Laurel, but one day we just started driving around and ended up in Columbia. We said, “Ooooh! This is like a park,” Debi said, with an
We’d been living in Lima, Peru, which has about 8 or 9 million people. All the green space in Columbia was a really nice antidote to that,” Tim added. almost spooky wonder in her voice–in a good way, of course.
“It wasn’t totally an accident, though. Before we returned from Peru I did a lot of online research based on various social and economic indicators, and Debi and I really liked Ellicott City…”
“…where we’re sitting right now,” Debi said, smiling.
As a career State Department employee, Tim had to remain politically neutral in his activist ventures, for a long while. But Trump changed all that.
“The day after the 2016 election, I sent my retirement papers to the State Department.” Tim’s retirement freed Tim and Debi from moving back overseas based on a requirement that State Department employees spend no more than six years at a time in the U.S.
Tim’s work is even more wonderfully subversive and meaningful than I knew, I found then.
“…I mean I still have to toe the policy line at the State Department, but I can be involved in all these activist organizations as long as it’s on my own time,” and I caught a hint of a mischievous grin as he looked down at the Syrian fries on his plate to offer me one.
Mission Possible
“My mission in my activism is saving lives and securing the future for our kids and grandkids. It’s a huge time commitment and energy commitment; it can be emotionally tough.”
“Why’re you lookin’ at me?” Debi asked, laughing.
Down to Brass Tacks
“The work we’re doing is about tackling existential threats to human well-being. It’s a labor of love. And we feel on a very deep level this is what what we’re here to do, and I feel comfortable saying that for both me and Debi from my experience being married to her for 29 years.”
As progressive as HoCo is, there are still a lot of places that need forward-thinking voices, and Tim and Debi are helping to provide that.
“We think globally, but we act locally. I’ve given talks about how all diplomacy is local too,” Tim said.
Tim clarified. He said what the U.S. does diplomatically around the world is driven by domestic interests. Those could be, Tim said, economic interests, or political interests, or a host of other issues.
“We can’t do something internationally if we don’t have support at home. It. Doesn’t. Work,” Tim said firmly, emphasizing each word.
Tim got involved with a local chapter of activist group Indivisible after 2016 election because, as he put it, he realized we can’t save the planet without saving our democracy. The linkages between an issue as big as climate change, and issues as overwhelming aa economic justice, social justice, political empowerment, political transparency–all the things that enable a functioning democracy are necessary for us to tackle the global climate threat, Tim said.
“And I would argue the same is true for the gun issue,” Debi said without missing a beat.
Central Issues, Central Committee
“When the Republicans crammed their tax scam through Congress, that was the the last straw for me. So I got an interview for the vacancy on the previous Democratic Central Committee (DCC),” Tim said, setting down his falafel-filled-fork and and leaning forward in his chair toward me.
In his interview for the vacancy, Tim said Republicans are the party of, “Predators, Polluters, and Colluders. Darn–I wish I’d thought of that clever and apt turn of phrase! He went on to say that the reason local groups like Indivisible, Together We Will, and Our Revolution formed was that they were unhappy with the response of the Democratic party to this nosedive into lunacy (my word) by the Republican party as of Trump’s election.
“So let’s try to work our party,” Tim said of his thinking at the time. A couple of months into his acceptance on to the DCC, someone asked him to join a slate that would run for election in 2018. Their brand would be looking forward, progressivism, a diverse coalition that would work cohesively as a team.
“I feel pretty good about that for the party and the county,” Tim said.
Another local activist with boundless, buoyant energy, Safa Hira, Recording Secretary for the Howard County Democratic Central Committee, and Howard County Executive Ball’s Community Liaison–who’s also studying to get her Masters in Public Administration–reiterated what many of his friends and colleagues told me about Tim as I dug for information about the Lattimers.
“Tim is an exceptional leader on the Howard County Democratic Central Committee. His leadership is truly inspiring and he’s unafraid to make the tough choices when needed. I’m so honored for the opportunity to serve on the committee with him. I’ve learned so much from him. #LoveTheLattimers.”
The Sunshine of My Life
Debi had been quiet for a while, scrolling through her phone. Finally, she found a picture of her son, Gabriel. She held it up to show me with a proud smile.
“Another cause that’s important to me,” Debi said, then, “is HC Drug Free, because I lost a nephew to addiction. That and the gun violence stuff speak most to my heart for whatever reasons.”
I’d wager it’s because it speaks to her protective, parental instincts. She like so many of the people we’ve interviewed for this website see that to protect the most vulnerable, among them children, is of the highest moral calling.
Pleasant Surprises
Both Tim and Debi said the thing that surprised them the most about HoCo when they moved here as non-native is how engaged the community is. There are community events–many!–going on every day. So much so that they often have to take a divide-and-conquer approach to attend them all! There’s another place their progressive partnership comes in handy: they each carry their co-activist load.
“A local HoCo politico once tried to introduce us to each other at an event once because we did that divide and conquer thing with events so often,” Debi said, laughing. “We said: yeaaaaaah, we’re married.”
A Reward of Forward-Thinking
“The biggest reward for me in all this activist work I’ve been doing the past couple years is that it’s allowed me to establish a sense of community with all the like-minded people I’ve met,” Tim said.
Debi said her professional life, which was local, had created its own base of fellow-HoCo-ans and friends. But as long Tim worked in D.C. he had little time to establish relationships here.
Combining the two, his D.C. career and HoCo advocacy, led to what Tim called his proudest achievement so far in local activism.
“Right after Trump got the U.S. out of the Paris Climate Accords, I helped lead Howard County Indivisible to ask the Columbia Association (CA) to endorse We Are Still In, a declaration that we are still part of the Paris Climate Accords. CA had already reduced its climate emissions by 50 percent over six years. I also helped one of the CA board members draft a charter to create a new CA Climate Change and Sustainability Advisory Committee.,” Tim said. He added that committee has met several times with other HoCo environmental leaders to think about other ways to advance climate action and sustainability locally.
Debi, meanwhile, told me her proudest achievement was helping Moms to organize HoCo’s vigil, a local instance of a national one that took place the same day, to commemorate the Sandy Hook massacre on December 14th of last year, the anniversary of a shooting in 2012. That year a shooter gunned down 20 six-and-seven-year-olds and six adult staffers at their Connecticut school.
“I think it was a particularly meaningful event–,” she told me, “–particularly for the survivors.” Buffy, though not a survivor of the shooting is from Sandy Hoook originally and gave emotional testimony at the Moms vigil.
Why and How
Tim reiterated that he’s doing what he’s on this Earth to do.
“I want to fight for its future for my kids, our communities, democracy, sustainability, until my dying day. We both get energy from this,” he said.
Tim also said that his and Debi’s work for climate change awareness and amelioration is intimately linked to their concurrent work to establish economic and social justice in the community.
“If my work as an agent of change over the past 40-plus years has taught me anything, it’s that we’re in a marathon, not a sprint,” he told me.
He said he excepts that in the years to come he’ll continue working on the issues he’s passionate about mentioned above.
“This means overcoming the illusion of separateness that lies at the heart of our political, social, economic, and spiritual ills,” he said with a smile full of hope and optimism.
When I asked Tim and Debi how they’d support local activists if they had unlimited funds, Debi answered almost before I could finish asking the question: “We’d give it to Chiara.”
Chiara D’Amore, who RoCo’s profiled on this site, is a local environmental activist who is head of two sustainability-based non-profits, Columbia Families In Nature and the Community Ecology Institute.
Day to Day, Partnership to Partnership
“I always feel like a part of a team. A team effort between me and Debi. We’ve raised two kids who are actively engaged in the community, too. Micaela was just elected most likely to be elected president by her high school peers,” Tim said with that unmistakable parental pride.
“A day at the office” for activists Tim and Debi involves a lot of driving to Annapolis, Baltimore, and D.C.
“I don’t think there’s really ‘an ordinary day,'” Tim said. “it’s just about trying to managing time, emails, conference calls, that kind of thing.”
“We share a car, too,” Debi said, “But it’s good in a way because it’s sometimes the only way get to spend any time together!
Thanks for reading! Check back with us each here at rocoinhoco.com every week as Robert, Colleen (and pup, Moses) get to know the many facets—one each week–of this prismatic place called Howard County. We want to take you along with us, so follow us on Twitter at @rocoinhoco, join our Facebook group, and follow us on Instagram at @rocoinhoco.