MONROE — After more than 30 years leading the Ronin martial arts classes through the Monroe Parks and Recreation department, Timm Burns has retired. His final day as instructor was Sept. 1. Desirae Holverson will now lead the program.

“I always seem to retire in September,” Burns quipped, as he left his duties as Court Commissioner in the county in September 2020. About six months ago he finished nearly all his leftover lawyering duties.

Back in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Burns and his then-wife Kelly were living in Fort Collins, Co., both studying and instructing martial arts as black belts. When they moved to Monroe with their young children, Timm stopped by the Parks and Recreation Department with an idea: Create a pilot program teaching martial arts and self-defense.

“I told them I’d do it for free initially. Marge took it to the Park Board and they approved it. Eventually they started paying me,” Timm said.

They were given the basement gymnasium room at the Behring Senior Center to use. When classes started in late 1991, “just a few adults and kids” entered the class. It didn’t take long for word to spread, and as the sessions went on, the class sizes continued to grow with haste.

“At one point we had about 40 in our kids class. People were crawling all over each other in that small room,” Burns said. Like other Dojos, the cycle of students went up and down, over and over throughout the years. Burns said they liked to do three, 3-month sessions each year and take the summer off, but they soon noticed that many students stopped coming back, so they reversed course and began offering classes year-round.

Timm said the Parks and Recreation Department and the Senior Center were great people to work with. “The support was phenomenal. They didn’t micromanage anything. They let us do it how we wanted to do it,” he said.

While Kelly was also a black belt and would occasionally fill in, Timm said the direct class-to-class instruction was 99% him. However, “Kelly was like an encyclopedia,” he said. Anytime Timm wondered if he was teaching a skill properly based on their Colorado days, Kelly would be there to make sure he had it right. 

Kelly taught science at Monroe High School, but passed away in 2014 after battling cancer. Timm remarried a few years later.

The Burns’ raised three kids: Brendan, Colin and Morgan, all now in their 30s and 40s. Both sons went on to play college football and continue their martial arts careers in Judo as adults. Colin also became a world-class weightlifter. All three children took martial arts lessons in Monroe when they were kids, with Brendan and Colin reaching black belt levels.

“Morgan got to maybe yellow belt, but she grew up in the same house as Brendan and Colin, so her skills were probably a lot higher than yellow,” Timm said. 

Ronin Karate belt levels are both singular colors, and with a stripe. They begin with white, then move to yellow, orange, green, purple, blue, red, brown, brown with a black stripe, and then finally black. Black belts are considered “expert level”, though there are even higher rankings of black belts that can be achieved.

Timm said that in order to raise a belt level, a student had to do more than just successfully complete a testing of skills, both in form and combat. Students were also required to do a certain number of hours of community service.

“We had a community service obligation, and what it did is it got kids out to nursing homes, picking up trash, volunteering at events,” he said. “They found ways to give back to their communities and make a difference they didn’t know they could do.”

Which was always part of the plan, Timm said. While prospective students eyed the physical growth of themselves in the class, the instructors wanted to do more than just teach self-defense and some kicking and punching skills.

“More than self-defense, we wanted to teach the kids to just believe they can do things they never thought they could do,” Burns said. 

He said he’s taught probably 1,000 students in Monroe over the years, including a lot of students with prominent jobs within the town today. However, even more left to go elsewhere.

“We tried to teach the kids — and sometimes the adults, but mostly the kids — to make the best of themselves; to believe in themselves and give them the confidence to go out and live their dreams. I think that’s what we did,” Timm said. 

Now living in Madison, Timm and his wife Beth also have about 30 acres of property outside of Browntown. They plant some gardening items and let a prairie grow. Occasionally he has to work on the buildings or farm equipment. He and Kelly bought it a decade ago, and he says he likes how the peaceful land can be used to enjoy some quiet time.

After the final class on Sept. 1, he said he felt a bit sad. “You’re never really finished” teaching, he said. “I told Beth on the ride home that I felt a little lost. It’s been a part of my life for so long.”

What’s next for Ronin Karate

Holverson took classes under Burns’ instruction as a child, but an injury and life got in her way of continuing her training. Since returning to the dojo, she quickly ascended into an assistant instructor role. Now she’ll take over full time for Burns.

“I’m excited to take my turn giving back to the community and adding more people into the Ronin karate legacy,” Holverson said.

As a child, Holverson said her parents let her “try every sport”, but nothing grabbed hold of her heartstrings quite like karate. 

“I loved having a place with people of all skill levels challenging each other to become better versions of ourselves,” she said. “It’s something I noticed less as a child, but now I see how well rounded the program was in my personal development. Drills and sparring are enforcing tactical thinking and perseverance. What feels like rough housing with new friends becomes bonds deeply founded on respect and empathy.”

She said that when training for hours with someone, week after week, they begin to almost feel like family.

“I have been so lucky to have had so many in the community I think of as life-long friends and role models. Martial arts is a life-long journey you can always come back to,” Holverson said. “It’s more than building agility, strength, and balance, you learn a lot about yourself and how you respond and manage stress. I am so grateful that I had Timm and Kelly make such a positive impact on my life.”

Burns said he is excited for Holverson, and the program. The COVID-19 pandemic hit the program especially hard, and numbers were very low when classes resumed.

“I didn’t know if I had anyone to take over,” Burns said, as he was contemplating retiring. “Part of the reason our numbers were low too was that I didn’t know if it was going to continue on, so I didn’t want any new students and instead wanted to focus on those we already had.

“Des showed up and started taking lessons again and expressed interest in instructing. She’s been helping out and has independent teaching experience. She’s gotten a great reception so far; and she’s a competent teacher,” Burns said. “She has real-world experience. It would be nice to see the program continue under her. Hopefully Desirae can rebuild it.”