Preaching school bus driver wins free rent

The Lord works in mysterious ... scratch that. The way this story comes together so perfectly, the obvious happy ending features less mystery than an uplifting offering on the Lifetime Movie Network.

“This is such a God thing,” says minister Tim Sherman, 64, grinning as he shows off the attributes in the Tamarack retirement community in Palatine where he and his wife, Susie, 63, will be living rent-free, eating three meals a day for free, enjoying free housekeeping services and thinking about the free lodging on their next vacation.

The minister of a small, aging and dwindling community church in Buffalo Grove, Tim has been supplementing his income and getting health insurance for the past 14 years through his job driving a school bus for Palatine Township Elementary District 15.

“He's very popular with the children,” says Thomas Bramley, director of transportation for the school district.

Susie works as the office manager for a small, private company. The Shermans managed to raise four kids, help with college costs and make ends meet in their four-bedroom home. But retirement was a concern.

“We're in the same boat as a lot of people,” Susie says.

In April, the couple started looking into retirement homes and liked what they saw at Tamarack. But they didn't know what to think one night last month when Fred Tillich, the manager at Tamarack, knocked on the door of their Palatine home.

“There are so many scams aimed at the senior population, even a preacher has to be a little skeptical,” says Tillich, who gave them the great news.

“He said, ‘You won!' and I didn't even remember what the contest was about. We just filled out the form to be cordial,” Tim says. “Not only have we never won anything before, we've never even entered.”

When the grocery offers them stamps to collect for free cookware, “we give the stamps to the person behind us,” Tim says. “We're just not that kind of people.”

The Shermans now are the kind of people who win a nationwide contest that gives them free rent for life or at least until their bill tops $300,000 from Holiday Retirement, which owns Tamarack and 314 other independent retirement living communities through the United States and Canada. There were three winners nationwide, with the Shermans joining single women from California and Oregon. They'll owe taxes on their winnings spread over the years as they use the money, but Susie says that even if they paid the full cost of everything at Tamarack, the facility still would be cheaper than their current home mortgage and tax and utility bills.

“It's amazing,” Tim says, adding that he knows other preachers struggling with retirement. “Why God does this for us and not for them, I don't have an answer to that. It's like He was saying, ‘I've got your back.' It's crazy, but it's great.”

The Shermans already have picked out a fifth-floor, one-bedroom apartment with a view, and are first on the list when a two-bedroom becomes available, Tillich says.

“We really believe this is God's provision for us. His timing is perfect,” Susie says.

“Susie and I never worried about how God was going to provide for us, but this is the first time He's ever provided on this scale,” Tim notes, chuckling as he adds, “I don't know how He's going to wind up selling our house, but He'll manage.”

While there is only one resident younger than the Shermans and most are in their 70s, 80s or 90s, Tim and Susie say that works for them. Married 41 years with four grandchildren, the Shermans say they are excited about living with older people.

“I've piddled on the guitar since high school,” says Tim, adding that he just played a bunch of old tunes for residents of the nursing home where his soon-to-be-101-year-old mother lives. “I thought about doing it for other nursing homes.”

The Shermans, who met as students at Pillsbury Baptist Bible College in Owatonna, Minn., compare their new lifestyle to college. They'll sleep in their apartment but plan to spend most of their time in the library, sunroom, game room, exercise facility and other perks at their new home. They'll also be able to stay free at other Holiday Retirement facilities on vacation. While both will continue working, Tim might even move his congregation to the perfectly sized chapel at Tamarack.

Already having started the process of downsizing, Tim won't have room for his massive library of religion books. Susie says their new apartment doesn't have a spot for a large portrait that has been with her since her childhood as a preacher's daughter.

“It's a huge picture of Jesus. The thing is huge,” Susie says of the gold-framed painting. “It's a hunky thing. So the question is: ‘What do we do with Jesus?'”

It doesn't take a leap of faith to assume that somehow, some way, that problem will work itself out for the Shermans.

Prayers: ‘What do we do with Jesus?'