MONROE - Although he's in the process of permanently closing the doors to his office just off the Square where he's been practicing law for more than 20 years, Monroe's Timm Burns isn't hanging up his hat just yet. He'll continue on as the Green County Family Court Commissioner and also keep a hand in other community involvement.

Burns was born in Theresa, a small town in Dodge County where he lived and his father ran a beef operation a few miles away. Burns worked there during weekends and summers. Being from a large family with eight siblings, he and his brother were often summoned to help.

He said the small town offered little opportunity, but he found fun by playing cards with friends in a barn in a field behind their home.

He attended grade school in Theresa and then went on to high school in Lomira, where Burns was involved in football, wrestling and threw shot put and discus in track. He laughs while calling himself an underachiever who thoroughly enjoyed sports.

The 1973 graduate enjoyed the crop side of farming and planned to go into ag business. He attended University of Wisconsin-River Falls, with the ultimate goal to eventually run a feed mill. His father sold farm equipment on the side, and he would often go along, appreciating how he talked to people.

During his first semester of sophomore year, Burns took a geology class and was instantly drawn to it. He found the entire subject matter fascinating, and everything seemed to make sense. He soon changed his major to geology and, shortly after, met his wife, Kelly. Kelly was transferring to the University of Montana where she could find a wildlife biology program, and Burns didn't hesitate to follow.

Although Burns loved Montana, the geology program wasn't what he was expecting, and the school was much bigger than what he was used to. He was working as a night man at a funeral home in Missoula, living in a small room, and his job was to respond to calls when someone passed away during the night.

He decided to drop out of school in February of 1977, during his senior year.

He then found a job loading soda pop trucks for a bottling company for a while and later landed a position at Caterpillar in its dealer warehouse. He enjoyed the work, but after he and Kelly were married, Burns eventually decided he should go back to school.

The couple moved back to River Falls, and Burns enrolled again to finish his degree in Earth science-geology. After graduation, his brother convinced him to go back to work on the farm, but that only lasted a few months before Burns decided to move out west to work in the oil fields. He worked for a mud logging company doing analysis, leaving for several days at a time in Wyoming, North Dakota, Colorado and all over the mountains and plains.

Eventually, he and Kelly moved to Fort Collins, just north of Denver.

In September of 1982, the oil fields were dying and conditions were poor. Burns said he can't explain it, but something called to him, and he decided to go to law school. He tried to work a little during his three-year schooling in Boulder, writing briefs for a law firm in Loveland, but he admits that law school was intense.

"Law school is awful," he laughed. "There's no love for that. But I'm one of those people - when I start something, I finish it."

He graduated in 1985 and couldn't find a job right away, so he decided to open his own office in Fort Collins.

"It was a struggle at first, but you learn so much so fast," he said of having his own practice. He worked in mostly family law, a little real estate and some criminal defense at that time. After about five years, in 1990, the family began thinking about moving back to Wisconsin.

Burns landed a job in Monroe working for attorney Rex Ewald in January of 1991, at first practicing municipal law and more general practice cases. It was the first time he hadn't lived in a college town and missed the ethnic foods, among other things, but his family was happy and his children adjusted to school quickly.

"Monroe is probably the best place on earth to raise a family," he said. "Of all the places we've been, I look at the opportunities available here - and it's safe. We have never had any complaints about Monroe when it comes to raising a family."

Burns was soon off on his own again, even working out of his home for a while before opening the office just off the Square, practicing mostly family law and criminal defense. The public defender also called him and offered him work.

The Burns family settled in. Kelly got her teaching degree and taught physics and biology at the high school. Although he saw ups and downs in private practice, Burns said it was a wonderful career.

"You never know what's going to walk in that door," he said. "Keeping up with technology and the law that's always changing is a challenge."

In 1996, Burns was appointed the Family Court commissioner. He never expected to get the job, and it meant he would have to give up family law in private practice. But, he said, the move was a good one, and he instead focused on criminal defense and real estate law on his own.

In 2014, after a battle with cancer, his wife Kelly passed away. After much reflecting, Burns decided to leave the sometimes high-stress of private practice behind and will be completely finished by the year's end.

"I struggled with some big life decisions after that," he said. "Eventually, I decided I could not be sure I was giving my clients all they deserved."

But he's staying on as the Family Court commissioner - it's a position he enjoys, and he'll be glad to still have a hand in law.

As a self-proclaimed "serial hobbyist," Burns won't likely have trouble keeping busy. He enjoys working at his farmette in Browntown, and he's hoping to get back into some past hobbies like making wine and woodworking.

Burns has been a sourdough bread baker since reading an article when he was 18 and becoming fascinated with the process. He even baked through college, keeping a sourdough pot going almost continuously. He's diabetic now, so he doesn't bake quite as often but still makes bread and pancakes for the kids when they come. He enjoys it so much because of the work and break process - and, of course, the end result.

"There's nothing like fresh bread out of the oven," he said.

Burns also played the banjo for a long time, even building his own instrument. After having his business for a while, his computer broke so he taught himself to re-build computers, and that was another passion he had until just a few years ago.

Burns has also been teaching karate since 1991 after his son Brendan became involved at age 6 in Fort Collins. Burns became hooked as well and he and Kelly both became black belts.

When the family first came to Monroe, he was looking to get involved in the community and convinced the Parks & Recreation Department to let him teach karate - even teaching for free that first year - and it was a very active group. All three of his children, Brendan, Colin and Morgan, were involved with karate at one time.

"Karate is the kind of thing you can turn into whatever you want," he said. "For me, it's intellectual - outsmarting people. And it keeps me in decent shape."

He said he's had great students over the years and enjoys watching them get better than him.

"It's so fun to watch kids see something in themselves they couldn't see before," he said. This summer, he's teaching a self-defense class. He was also involved in judo with his boys for a while.

After Burns was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes about six years ago, he began a journey to be more active. He also started running and has run the Wisconsin Tough Mudder four times, running with both Brendan and Morgan for some of them.

Burns said he'll work part time as the Family Court Commissioner and also plans to teach karate for a little while, work on his country home and give some more attention to his dog. His girlfriend, Beth, and he also plan to travel a bit, and Burns hopes to get involved in the literacy group in town.