Academic Centre
Donor Eigits Dāvis Timermanis (1953) describes his life in the following words:
"My grandfather Dāvīds Timermanis was born in 1863 in a farmer’s family in Cēsis, studied at Cēsis Bērzaine Gymnasium. He joined the voluntary military service in 1882. After training at the officers' school, he reached the rank of lieutenant in the Tsar's army. During a mission to Manchuria, he met Kristīne Ozola (born in 1872), who worked there as a governess. They were married there in 1904, and Dāvīds continued to serve in the army. Two daughters, Ilze (1905) and Austra (1907) were born in the family, but unfortunately in October 1908, during a mission to Rezan, Dāvīds died and was buried there. Kristīne returned to Riga with her daughters, and Roberts Dāvīds was born on 8 June 1909. He never met his father. The family soon moved to Cēsis, continuing their life in quite restricted circumstances. After graduating from Bērzaine Secondary School in 1926, Dāvīds entered the Military School of Latvia, which he completed with honours in 1929. He was sent to Daugavpils Riding Regiment, however, in 1931 he transferred to the Aviation School, graduating with the rank of First Lieutenant. In 1932, Dāvīds began his studies at the University of Latvia Faculty of Economics and Law, Department of Economics, which he completed in 1937. At Christmas of 1931, Dāvīds met Valija Vilensona (born in 1912 in Riga). In 1933, Dāvīds suffered a serious accident, after which he spent nine months in a hospital. Already in 1934, as soon as he recovered, he married Valija.
While living in Riga, Eigits Dāvis (Goga) (1935) and Ivonna Aija (1936) were born into their family. Dāvīds continued his service with the Aviation Regiment until August of 1938, when he was transferred to the Headquarters of the Technical Division (Gen. Kurelis). Following the arrival of Russian troops in Latvia, Dāvīds was briefly re-deployed to the Aviation Regiment in 1940, but then in early 1941 was dismissed from service. Luckily, living cautiously, he was not caught and deported. Dāvīds resumed his studies in 1937 but did not complete them due to the Soviet occupation.
When the Latvian "police" battalions began to form in the beginning of 1942, Dāvīds applied for and served as the commander of the 3rd company in the 270th Sapper Battalion until the end of the war, when Dāvīds became a partisan. Moving from Kurzeme to Madona/Lubāna area, Dāvīds successfully led the formation and operation of the Latvian Defenders of Homeland (guerrilla) association. On 25 December 1945, Dāvīds was shot dead at the Saulīši farmstead (Barkava parish) as a result of betrayal. His resting place is unknown, but his memory will live on both in the family and in the Tervetia, as well as among others who knew this courageous defender of his country.
My early childhood memories are bright and happy growing up in a warm family atmosphere in Pārdaugava, Nordeķi. From the early days I was near airplanes and aerodromes, and it became my "lifelong path". I started my schooling at Spilve Elementary School, but in 1944, as the front line approached Riga, my mother took me and my sister to the countryside – Odziņi farmstead in Saldus Parish, where we spent a vexing summer. This was the home of Vilensoni family, where my second grandfather, Jānis Vilensons (1860), was born. Jānis was among the youngest in a family of seven children when his father died in 1876. The mother with all the children was evicted soon after, moving to Riga. Jānis acquired a profession of miller and worked near Riga. In Riga, Jānis met Kristīne Leimane (born in 1876 in Burtnieki), married in 1902, and had three children – Lidija (1905–1909), Jānis (born in 1910) and Valija (born in 1912). Grandfather opened a shop in Nordeķi, also engaged in gardening and kept a couple of cows. Toil of both parents in 1928 enabled Jānis to buy land near the family home in Nordeķi. The grandfather bequeathed the land to his children in 1937 and passed away in 1939.
The war continuously drew nearer and began to shape our future life. We left Liepāja in mid-December of 1944 for Danzig, Germany. From there we came to Chemnitz, Saxony, and spent the terrible next four months until the end of the war under protection of our Lord.
At the end of the war, we were located in the area occupied by Americans and were able to travel west through Jena, Weimar to Goth, where we were taken over by the American military administration. For about six weeks we drove back and forth until we came to the Fischbach camp near Nuremberg. It was a Latvian camp of about 1000–1200 inhabitants, provided by United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. The camp was run by the people themselves, with elementary and secondary school, hospital, churches, choir, theatre, girl guides, scouts, camp police, craftsmen and artisan training.
I graduated from Kārlis Skalbe Elementary School shortly before my mom, sister and me left for Australia early in 1949. We travelled for about three months, through transit and inspection camps in Germany and Italy. Our ship "Nelly" was on its first voyage after its rebuilding from grain to human carrier, carrying 1500 passengers, which fared intermittently better or worse. A month later we arrived in Melbourne and went on to camp in Cowra, some 600 km north. There I resumed school at a gymnasium in a small rural town. In 1951 we moved to Sydney, where I went to a gymnasium for another year, but at the beginning of 1952 I began an aviation engineering apprenticeship course at Qantas Empire Airways (now Qantas). I was the first non-Australian apprentice. I graduated from gymnasium/matriculation in parallel with the course of the vocational school, but as the job opportunities here were very limited, I did not continue my studies.
Qantas flew all over the world, staff and representatives were needed wherever there were stops. Thus, I spent the first year and a half after graduation in Indonesia, then travelled Australia, Cocos Island in Indian Ocean, San Francisco, and spent a couple of years in Singapore. In total, I worked for this firm for 18 years. In the meantime, I met a Dutch girl, Ansie Van Halteren (born in 1942) in Perth, and in 1963 we got married. Our son Jānis Dāvis was born in 1964 and our daughter Daina Susan was born in 1966. While I was slowly climbing upward, continuing my chosen career, I wanted to move to the "Operations Department" to fly as a "flight engineer". My employers did not want to allow this, and at the end of 1969 I left Qantas and moved to Hong Kong accepting a job from Cathay Pacific Airways, a fast growing, regional airline.
It was a great change, a move to another part of the world, environment, culture, school system, but since there were around 100 000 expats, mostly of English and American descent, we were able to adapt quickly. Cathay had been growing very fast with the purchase of two Convair 880 aircrafts (they had eight in total), and our course was servicing these aircraft. A year later, the airline began purchases of Boeing B707. These enabled longer flights – to Australia, more extensive coverage of Asia, and to the Middle East. When the company purchased the Boeing B747s in 1979, we served almost the entire world, Europe, London, Paris, Rome, Frankfurt, while in America – Vancouver, San Francisco, also the cities of Asia, Australia – very long flights, many at night.
The children graduated from primary school here in Hong Kong, moved to Perth, where they were born, to continue their gymnasium studies, although many holidays could be used to come "home".
However, in 1977 our family's life was interrupted. Luckily, we had gathered together a number of Latvians from different countries (about 12–18 people), and continued our social life in the Latvian spirit. Since I had lived here for the longest time, I had a "senior" role. The arrivals from all over the world knew how to reach Goga. This is how, through friends, I met Māra Liberts (born in 1944, Riga). Mārīte came to Hong Kong for a couple of years to run a beauty parlour. We were married in 1982. That was 40 years ago, and we still understand each other well. Our Latvian group of friends continued to maintain close relationship until our departure, but had later declined, when we visited later.
My employer grew powerfully – in a sense, I am pleased to have had the opportunity to contribute my share of this growth at a professional level. I flew over 13 000 hours in total. After leaving Hong Kong in 1991, after nearly 22 years, the firm had over 100 aircraft and 1200 technical crew members.
We returned to Australia at the end of 1991, settled in Sydney, and resumed a more normal family relationship with the two mothers who for years had been patiently waiting for our homecoming. My mom, Valija (née Vilensons), had had a relatively fragile health from her early days, and had to spend time in the sanatorium to fight tuberculosis during her studies. I do not remember the beginning of her studies, but it was at the Faculty of Natural Sciences. After graduation, Valija continued working at the Faculty of Natural Sciences and collecting material for her master's thesis. Mommy was very strictly brought up, very religious, and that gave her the strength and endurance to cope with war-related life changes, to survive the final period of the war, to move to a new land, and raise children. Mommy spent the last nine years under our wing until she passed away at the age of 94 in 2006.
Our "vacation" phase of life has now continued for more than 21 years. Here in Sydney, I participate in the Latvian Society, I sing in Sydney Latvian Male Choir SLVK, as well as volunteer at the Sydney Latvian Lutheran congregation, where I am currently the head of congregation. After the restoration of Latvia's independence, I assisted Gunārs Freimanis and Atis Skalbergs with the publication of books. After 2000, I joined Jānis Vējiņš and supported shared goals – to promote the activities of the National Guard and Young Guard movements, as well as to publish or re-issue books of military content and gifting them to schools, libraries, army institutions, diplomatic missions. Unfortunately, both Jānis and Aina Vējiņš passed away too soon, and much remained undone.
1994, my leave was interrupted by the opportunity to work for Air New Zealand (ANZ), transferring pilgrims from Indonesia to Jeddah. Thus, I got back to Jakarta and remained there for three months. When all the pilgrims had returned, ANZ retained a half of our crew for another six months flying the Pacific, from Auckland to Korea, Australia and Honolulu, Los Angeles – an unexpected, amazing, enjoyable opportunity to work with other – "retired" crew members. It has been more than a year since that opportunity.
This is how we slowly continue our daily lives, harvest summers and look at our young generation growing. Both children, Jānis and Daina, are graduates of university, both with a Master of Business degrees, and Alicia, the eldest granddaughter, is studying education at the university".
Support
At the end of 2012, the UL Foundation received three land properties as a gift from Eigits Dāvis Timermanis, the profit of which will continue to provide support to outstanding students who carry out research of economic importance.
Thanks to Eigits Dāvis Timermanis' support of EUR 7 867.21, two historians, Reinis Ratnieks and Ēriks Jēkabsons, compile existing and archival materials to publish a book on Captain Dāvīds Timermanis, which is to be published in 2019. The book will be of interest to anyone exploring the military history of the first half of the 20th century in Latvia and the history of the national resistance movement.
In 2017, Eigits Dāvis Timermanis established a scholarship for UL doctoral students and doctoral candidates for competitiveness research in social sciences.
We greatly appreciate the generous support to education and development!