Anything BUT Politics
A groundbreaking new podcast, Anything BUT Politics, is redefining how we view political figures by focusing on everything about them—except their political careers.
Anything BUT Politics
Firefighter to State Rep: Tim Soucy's Journey
In the next episode of Anything but Politics, we sit down with State Representative Tim Soucy—an eight-term lawmaker, a veteran firefighter, and a surprisingly formidable golfer. Join us as we explore his journey from growing up in Nashua to serving his community both in the firehouse and the State House. Soucy shares gripping stories from his 29-year career as a firefighter, including the close call that nearly cost him everything. We also dive into his passion for golf, his love for Andrea Bocelli, and why he chose camaraderie over career advancement. Don’t miss this candid conversation filled with humor, reflection, and incredible storytelling!
Speaker Names
Tiffany EddyCo-host
00:04
Hi everyone, I am Tiffany Eddy and I am so pleased to be joined by my partner in crime, tom Prezal of Demers Prezal Thomas, and we're here to share with you another episode of Anything. But Politics where we talk about anything but politics.
Tom PrasolCo-host
00:21
And you know it's great because we're lucky today, because not only are we joined by an eight term in his eighth term state representative, but also someone I get to consider a friend, and not just because you know he bails me out of precarious situations on the golf course every Thursday. But you know, representative Tim Soucy is currently serving his eighth term. He is in leadership as the deputy ranking Democrat on the House Labor Committee. He's served on numerous committees, but he's also a 29-year veteran of the fire service in Nashua and in addition to that he's a great golfer and a house husband and big fan of Andrea Bocelli, from what I understand. Yes, sir.
Tiffany EddyCo-host
01:07
And big, big like. I've also had the privilege of being in the presence of Representative Susie on the golf course and whew.
Tom PrasolCo-host
01:15
Quite a spectacle.
Tiffany EddyCo-host
01:16
Oh, my goodness yeah. Not really, it's like you're a machine Like did they ever like reach out to you to be like hey, you know, have you thought about the tour?
Tim SoucyGuest
01:26
No, not really, no, no. I will say this though when I took up the game of golf, I was probably 21 years of age, really Playing golf. Yeah, got together with a bunch of guys from National Fire, went out, played golf, loved the game so much. Started really taking a lot of time going to the driving range and Tom mentioned earlier about when they used to use video VCRs or recorders or whatever, and we would have these things set up on a tripod at the driving range and I would go home and I would watch tapes of Jack Nicklaus and Greg Norman, all these real, you know, in my day, big golfers. So you get these tapes, you watch them, you go to the drive range, you try to, you know, see if you can be as consistent as they were, but it never really happened, you know, you practice.
Tom PrasolCo-host
02:18
I think it's kind of happened. I mean, what's your handicap index?
Tim SoucyGuest
02:22
4.6. Yeah, that's pretty good.
Tiffany EddyCo-host
02:25
And you hit a long drive Like you're a monster.
Tim SoucyGuest
02:29
But as you're getting older, as I'm getting older, it's starting to slow down a little bit. So we'll see how we do this year. Maybe, Tom. I was going to send Tom a couple things on Instagram. I'll take all the help I can get If he could out-drive me this year. So we'll see how that goes.
Tiffany EddyCo-host
02:43
Tom's also a good golfer.
Tim SoucyGuest
02:44
Tom is a good golfer. No, we have a good time.
Tom PrasolCo-host
02:46
But you know and we're going to get back to golf because there's some things I want to talk about with that but I always like to start these episodes from the beginning. So you were born and raised in Nashua, right?
Tim SoucyGuest
02:58
That's correct and did you always want to be a firefighter growing up, that's interesting because I would say I'm going to say no because you know, as a kid, I grew up in a family that my grandfather was a business owner.
03:18
He was a landlord, he was a store owner, all my uncles owned stores. So there were a lot of Seuss's in Nashville that owned a lot of businesses. So I would go to work with, you know, my father. I'd be at the store with my grandfather. An interesting story is when I was, when I moved out of the Pine Street area and moved over after my parents got divorced, I moved over to Crown Hill and there happened to be a store directly across the street from my house. So I said, well, you know what, I've been in stores before, let's see if I can go over there and get a job. So that's right. As a kid 11, 12 years old I was you know what the guy that owned the store was paying me $20 a week to sweep the outside, take out the trash, and so, going through high school or going through school, I never thought about the fire department. I mean, my stepdad was a big influence of that. He was on the job there. My uncle was on the job, he was a deputy chief, my stepdad was a lieutenant.
04:15
So when, as I was working at the store, I actually, when I was able to get my driver's license, we used to deliver groceries. And I remember this very well because 10th and 11th grade, what I wanted to do was fly planes. I wanted to be a pilot, I wanted to go into service and I wanted to fly planes. And so, through the years of delivering groceries, there was a couple in the South End of Nashua that we would deliver to every Saturday and I would go in and I'd have conversation with this gentleman and his wife and he would ask me kind of, you know, what are you looking to do when you get out of high school? And I said I would really like to fly planes. That's what I want to do.
04:54
Lo and behold, long story short, I find out that this gentleman had retired from the Air Force, spent a lifetime in the Air Force, retired and really took a liking to me because I was going there every week, to the point where he went to my mother, went to my boss first, but then talked to my mother afterwards to see if he could get into the school to get my records, kind of building this up, to see if I was really the type of person that was going to do this. So 10th and 11th grade, that's what I wanted to do and I would talk to this guy all the time and we were putting a plan together. And then my senior year came around and I took a liking to the fire department. My father was there so I was always following. If there was a fire in the city, I had my license so we'd bicycle to wherever it was. We'd have scanners at home so we could hear the stuff.
Tiffany EddyCo-host
05:42
Wait a second. You would bicycle to a fire scene because that was something that you were so interested in serving.
Tim SoucyGuest
05:51
Absolutely so. All my buddies and I, we would just get on our bikes, We'd figure out where it is and a lot of times growing up as a kid in that area French Hill and Nashville was an area where it was a lot of fires up there- oh, wow. So that's what we'd do. We'd either bicycle or somebody had a car and we'd drive there, so we would chase the fire trucks around. So my senior year in high school, I kind of—.
Tiffany EddyCo-host
06:13
I used to chase the fire trucks around too, but it was for news. Yes, that's right, we would have to hear the scanner too. But anyway, sorry.
Tim SoucyGuest
06:28
Well, we interest to it. And it broke my heart because I'm sure that I broke this gentleman's heart when I told him that, yeah, I'm not pursuing the pilot thing or, you know, military. When I get out of high school I'm going to pursue the fire department. And, you know, in the long run it panned out well because I graduated in 1986 and I was hired in 1987 on the fire department in Nashua. So, yeah, it worked out well and I had a great career.
Tiffany EddyCo-host
06:55
What's the best part? Like some of my favorite people that I had an opportunity to meet in my years of being a broadcast journalist were the firefighters and loved going in and hearing all the different stories and you guys see a lot of stuff, a lot of stuff. But any favorite stories or memories pop out from fire service.
Tim SoucyGuest
07:17
I've seen in my 29 years. I've seen a lot, Good and bad. Best thing about the fire service is the people you work with, um going in every day, um, listening to the stories at the table that what they did on their four days off or um, but we had, you know, it was the camaraderie, yeah, with the guys and the girls that we worked with and you know, most of the time everybody gets along. So you sit at the kitchen table in the morning. You have, you know, have a conversation, you know you go out, you do your job, you come back and we talk about it.
07:52
Right, a lot of things that we've seen, um, but I think the biggest thing, or the best thing, was being able to help the people that, um, I actually grew up with, you know, in the city that I grew up in. I mean to work for the fire department in a city that I actually grew up in. I was a kid there and again, chasing the fire trucks around, you know as a youngster, and then actually being able to ride on those fire trucks. I mean I can't explain to you what the feeling was the very first time that I was able to get on a fire truck and scream down the streets with the sirens on. You know, it is that little kid feeling where you're, you know, really excited about it. You know what I mean.
Tom PrasolCo-host
08:32
So yeah, you know, it's interesting that you brought up the camaraderie, right, and I think the reason why I find it interesting is because you know you and I have spoken a number of times and you actually had an opportunity. You retired thing is because you know you and I have spoken a number of times and you actually had an opportunity. You retired as a lieutenant, right, that's correct and uh, but you had an opportunity to go further, but that would have meant leaving the house you were at, not your home home, but the firehouse, yeah, and you chose. I like the guys I'm working with, they're like a family to me and I don't want to leave them right.
Tim SoucyGuest
09:03
yeah, I had a bunch of guys that we were together for it was quite a few years and it was actually talked about in the firehouse. It was actually pretty funny, because whenever they would come out with a transfer, we would always look on the board and see who was getting transferred. And so you look down the list and you see that the guys that you're actually working with and the girls you were actually working with you see that none of them are on the transfer list. No one's leaving the firehouse on my day, and so then it would be like, oh, why is this group get to stay together so long? They've been together forever and you know. So that was great because the guys and girls that I worked with were phenomenal. I still keep in contact with a lot of them today. So, yeah, the camaraderie was great.
Tiffany EddyCo-host
09:53
Any close calls when you were a firefighter I mean 29 years, so you've obviously seen a lot of different things, but I would imagine that you know it's a dangerous occupation and anything that ever kind of you think, wow, I got really lucky there.
Tim SoucyGuest
10:10
So it's funny. You ask that because I actually texted a buddy of mine last night because he's the one that reminds me of this all the time Every year. He'll give me the date it happened. So I asked him last night. So back in August 23rd 2005, typical day at the firehouse, around 11 o'clock, call comes in for a building fire up in French Hill. We weren't directly affected on the first alarm assignment, but they get on the scene. They had heavy fire, heavy smoke showing. So they call the deputy calls for a second alarm. So we get in the truck because we're out of Lake Street, so we knew we were going to go. We were going to be the third engine in. So we get to the fire. We're looking around, looking at the outside of the building.
10:54
Deputy gave me some orders to do, you know, do some stuff, and one of the things that we saw was an air conditioner on the third floor of this building. So there was a ladder already placed there. So I dropped because the fire was up in the attic so you could see the smoke coming out of all the windows up in the attic On the third floor. I was pushing out of the roof so it was our job to go up and make sure that somebody pushes that air conditioner into the building so that it doesn't come out and come down on somebody. So one of my guys was tied up doing something else just around the corner on the side of the house. So I decided that I'm going to be the guy that's going to go up.
11:30
I took about I don't know, I probably went up five, six feet, turned around, looked up real quick and said, yeah, we have to move this ladder. So as I was coming down the ladder it's almost like I was in a movie, because I heard someone yelling and I had taken my hand and I put it on my helmet, kind of like this, to look down to see if there was anybody below me. And as I came back up, like this, I put my hand down and next thing, I know, something hit me. Oh wow, and it was about I don't know how long I was out for, but when I woke up, I woke up to somebody screaming in my face to keep my eyes open.
12:12
I had no idea what had just happened. So the reason I came to is I mean, I think I was actually choking on, and I hate to say this, but on my own blood, because I had bitten through my tongue, I had broken some teeth, I had blood coming down because I had cut my forehead and somebody was holding traction on me and I'm trying to speak and I just can't get any words out. And so they rolled me over on my side and I can hear them talking, but I still couldn't speak and they were saying you had an air conditioner come down and smash you on the head.
12:47
Oh, my goodness so we're going to try to. You know so they did. Everybody did a great job. I got loaded into the ambulance and, luckily for me, you know you get to the hospital. They do all kinds of tests on you and the funniest thing of the day and the story's not funny, but it made light of the whole thing was, you know, they did all these tests. That's probably in there for six, seven, maybe eight hours and I actually they still had traction on me and out of the corner of my eye I could see the fire department chaplain coming by the emergency room.
Tiffany EddyCo-host
13:21
He's walking by the window and I'm thinking to myself Is that a good sign or a bad sign? That's what I'm thinking, right, I'm like, oh, what's going on here?
Tim SoucyGuest
13:27
So when he got to the door, I just raised my hand and I said not today, father, save it for another day because it's not happening. He just looked at me and started laughing. He goes I'm not here to give you your rights, you know, your last rights. I'm here to just come in and you know see how you're doing. So, yeah, I get released from the hospital. That night it could have been a lot worse, I think. The doctors told me that. You know, luckily I was still been on the ground. They'd think that the impact from the air conditioner probably would have, you know, really done some serious damage to my back, and so, luckily, I was on the ladder, I took the hit and I think I was back to work 17 days later. 17 days, you were a savage.
Tom PrasolCo-host
14:04
Well, I tried Savage.
Tim SoucyGuest
14:06
I didn't like being out of work, let's put it that way. Yeah, but it was. You know I had a lot of you know friends call me all the time, see how I was doing everything like that, and so yeah, but that's about probably the closest thing to you know really being injured that I've had when I was on for 29 years, so I guess I was pretty lucky.
Tiffany EddyCo-host
14:25
Yeah, that is lucky. And we're glad too because now you can be on anything but politics and share the story with us. Question so somebody from Manchfire told me this years ago but that they would call police officers who arrive at the scene first, blue canaries. Does that ring a bell at all, is that? Or?
Tim SoucyGuest
14:42
is that a Manchfire thing? I want to say that's probably a Manchester thing. Okay, I don't, I don't remember that happening in Nashville too often, okay, but I think I think the relationship between the manchester fire guys or firefighters and police was probably a little better than what we used to have in nashville. Um, I think it's all good now, but I remember going up to manchester one time, um, unfortunately, for a funeral, and I remember manchester PD and Manchester Fire were just, you know, just really close, yeah, really really close, and I think that's the way it is in Nashville now.
15:21
There's a lot of guys you know in Nashville that get along you know it used to be, and understand this. It was always, you know, when you're firefighters, you're police, you're union people, right, and so you're negotiating contracts, and so it was always a parity thing. So in our city we used to have that argument and I think you know, on both sides I think people took exception to the fact that somebody's trying to get parity for you know, different jobs. But definitely in Manchester they were yeah, I don't recall that, I mean probably back before my time.
Tiffany EddyCo-host
15:53
Well, I think it was more like a compliment, or like they would get to a fire scene first and then they would try to go in and, you know, be helpful, helpful. But perhaps they didn't have the right skills to be helpful in a fire situation. So that's where the term came from. But I was just curious if that was like a firefighter-police kind of relationship or if it was just a Manchester.
Tim SoucyGuest
16:15
Well, I'll say this Actually, when I first got promoted to lieutenant, I was out at a firehouse on Conant Road in Nashua and I remember it was probably maybe four months into being a lieutenant and we get a call one night for a building fire and we show up on the scene and sure enough, I mean we have fire blowing out every window on the first floor. And funny story is actually a kid that I went to high school with years after I was on the fire department. He finally came to me and said hey, you know, I'd really like to get on the fire department. Is there anything you can do? And so he ends up getting on the fire department. Well, he was a probationary firefighter and they actually stationed him with me, so that was his first fire. It was my first fire as a lieutenant.
16:55
Well, the police got there right around the same time we did, and I remember them standing out front. They were standing in front of the door and my guys were bringing down a line to go in the front door and the police officers just looked at us and said you guys are crazy, there's no way we're going in there. Yeah, and I mean we had black smoke blowing out of there. And I talked to him afterwards and he said when we went in and we hit the fire, I mean we went in and smoke came out the door and he said they totally lost track of us. And then we went in there and hit the fire. Flames came shooting out and they said they actually backed up and they're like all right, we're going to go stand in the street and let these guys do what they need to do.
Tom PrasolCo-host
17:33
Yeah, yeah. Well, there's a reason. You guys are trained differently, right Trained differently.
Tim SoucyGuest
17:37
I mean they don't have the gear. I mean, listen, there were times I've known times where you know they've tried to get in and do the things that you know, anything that they can help to get people out of the buildings, yeah, so one thing I wanted to touch on is when we're talking about the camaraderie and the firehouse and everyone's together.
Tom PrasolCo-host
18:04
I know one of your passions outside of you know work as a legislator and being a house husband, or maybe part of your duties as a house husband is cooking. I know you love to cook and I believe that probably started in the firehouse, and so I'm curious about how that works right, because we all know you sit down family dinners, everyone eats, is it just were you in charge of cooking all the time? How does that whole process work?
Tiffany EddyCo-host
18:31
Give us a glimpse. And I want to go back to the house husband thing, because that sounds awesome. What are the duties and responsibilities to get that title?
Tim SoucyGuest
18:40
Well, I'll tell you that in one minute. It's all connected Cooking in the firehouse when I first got on the job and I'll say this because I love my mother to death, and I'll say this because I love my mother to death but my mother was a bland cook Bland cook, right, a lot better now. A lot better now. So I didn't really learn cooking skills at home as much as I did in the firehouse, but through the course of time, you know the stations that I was working at, you'd have seven or eight people working there, so it was always tough to have, you know, the same person cooking. So guys would want to take, you know, folks would want to take the opportunity to show off their skills and, you know, try to cook. And I will tell you that some of the folks that I worked with were phenomenal cooks. I mean, they could have worked in, you know really high-end restaurants and done a great job, I mean.
Tiffany EddyCo-host
19:42
And when you're cooking too, at the fire department, it's not just cooking for, like you know, four people you know, or a couple people, I mean, you're cooking for like everybody who's on the team that night, right? So that's like what?
Tim SoucyGuest
19:55
15, maybe 20 people something. So our firehouse most of the three firehouses in Nashville that have eight folks working at a time, plus the deputy chief, plus his aide A lot of times the chiefs would come over. So the firehouse I was in, so we could be cooking for up to 15 people, and it wasn't always easy. What we did was everybody would pitch in. We'd have a weekly what they call the kitty, and we'd take money out, and so if it was your turn to cook, we kind of based it on like $5 per meal per person, so you'd have $80 for the day and so you'd go do your grocery shopping and at the end of the day, if there was any money left over, we would just collect the money. So, like on Christmas day because we always work Christmas day we would have a big meal, right, but folks would take turns cooking.
20:45
I got to the point with one of the crews I was working with that they enjoyed my cooking, so I made it easy. I said we don't have to divvy this up, I'll do all my cooking. So I made it easy. I said we don't have to divvy this up, I'll do all the cooking. And so you experiment with things and it worked out great. And then when I got transferred the last couple of years I was on the job, I got transferred to another crew that some of these guys really enjoyed cooking, so I wasn't going to go in and try to change things. So we broke it up in a way that if we were working on Tuesday, somebody knew they were cooking on Tuesday, and every day you advance a week right with our schedule. So you always knew every week we knew who was cooking. I missed it. So then I just took it up at home. I did all the cooking at home and I do that today.
Tiffany EddyCo-host
21:27
So question what is the meal that you are best known for?
Tom PrasolCo-host
21:32
Took the words right out of my mouth. I'm so sorry. No, that's good.
Tiffany EddyCo-host
21:35
It was the natural follow-up. But like, yeah, we had Senator Prentiss on a couple weeks ago and she's known for scratch brownies which you know. She keeps saying that she's going to bring them into us.
Tom PrasolCo-host
21:46
I just got. She sent me a picture of a batch she was making this weekend. Such a tease.
Tiffany EddyCo-host
21:50
But that she was making this weekend Such a tease. But so, and if you do make it, would you bring Tom and I some food?
Tim SoucyGuest
21:56
Yeah.
Tom PrasolCo-host
21:57
Yeah, I would do that Just to warn you, tiffany. I've been waiting on a cheesecake for like three years now.
Tim SoucyGuest
22:02
And I do. I love to make cheesecake. I mean, that's one of my favorite things to make Meals. I'm a pasta guy so I love pasta and I love. You know some people don't like this, but I love veal. So when I'm making pasta I put veal, I put onions, peppers, sausage Everything you can imagine is going into the sauce. Or, like you know, at home, on Wednesday night this week I have veal. At home we're having veal marsala mashed potatoes.
22:26
I don't think I'm going to make a cheesecake, because my wife and I probably will not eat the cheesecake, just the two of us. But cheesecake was a favorite of mine.
Tom PrasolCo-host
22:34
But for the big group. Pasta was the big thing, like chicken parm. Are we talking Chicken parm? Yeah?
Tim SoucyGuest
22:40
I mean we would do most of the time during the day light lunches. So we'd do salads. A lot of people like chicken Caesar salad, so we'd do chicken Caesar salad, chicken Caesar wraps, whatever. Nighttime we'd get a little more and get a little heavier. You know we do the pasta dishes or we do meatloaves, anything you can imagine. We'd just cook anything and it's for eight people. I mean, I'll tell you, christmas was the greatest.
23:08
The guy I was talking about earlier that just bought a house in Ireland, he actually was working at a boatyard and so Christmas was coming up and we said what are we going to do for? You know, what are we going to do for a meal this year? And we usually Christmas day is a prime rib. So we're like all right, I got an idea, let's do a prime rib and let's get some lobsters, because everybody loves lobsters. So my buddy Gordy Wilson says, yeah, you know what lobsters. So my buddy Gordy Wilson says, yeah, you know what, I can get the lobsters. So he went to the. He went to the boat yard, talked to one of the fishermen out there and the gentleman said yep, I can get you, I'll get you lobsters. The thing is, here's the catch he goes. Whatever I bring in on the in the cage you have to buy. So we're like, yeah, whatever, we'll take it. Well, I think he had probably one of the best catches in a week and so we had to buy 50 lobsters from him, oh wow.
23:57
So we had 50 lobsters for eight people at the firehouse. So we all invited our families down. So some of them came in for Christmas day to eat, but then we would. We shucked all the lobsters, froze the meat afterwards, and so we ate lobster and lobster salad for I don't know, the next two days.
Tom PrasolCo-host
24:14
so that was christmas, was where we splurged a little more prime ribs and it pays based on what you were saying earlier about. You know you're allotted. You know five bucks a person, you know per day. So you get 80 bucks. If you don't spend it all it goes into the side kitty so you can buy 50 lobsters for Christmas?
Tim SoucyGuest
24:33
Yeah, we would have. So it pays to be cheap. I think we were at one point we probably had about $500 in the kitty and that would you know, absolutely pay for the lobsters, pay for the prime rib and whatever else we wanted. So, yeah, that was the way it worked, yeah that's great.
Tiffany EddyCo-host
24:49
You know, speaking of kitties, you're an animal lover, aren't you? I wouldn't really say I'm an animal lover.
Tim SoucyGuest
24:56
I have cats.
Tiffany EddyCo-host
24:58
Kitties. I was like did you see the pivot there?
Tim SoucyGuest
25:01
when I did. I have a dog as well. I had a rabbit. Oh really, yeah, I have a dog as well, I had a rabbit.
Tiffany EddyCo-host
25:05
Oh really.
Tim SoucyGuest
25:06
Yeah, indoor rabbit Indoor.
Tiffany EddyCo-host
25:08
No more though.
Tim SoucyGuest
25:09
No, Jack's not around anymore. Oh yeah, Jack was, I want to say, really surprised me, because I think he lived to be like 14 years old. Oh wow, and that's. I don't know if that's unusual for a rabbit, but yeah, my daughter decided that when she was going off to college that my wife and I were going to miss her so much that she decided that this is my stepdaughter, that she needs to get another cat, even though we already had two and a dog. So she decided that she was going to bring in this other little kitten and it was nice of her.
25:39
Yeah, it's been nice and it's been a terror. I don't think waking us up at six o'clock in the morning is doing the captain any favors.
Tom PrasolCo-host
25:50
That's great. So I think one area I wanted to touch on was going back to golf real quick, because I love golf and I know you love golf and I know Tiffany loves golf.
Tiffany EddyCo-host
26:02
I love golf.
Tom PrasolCo-host
26:04
So you're a champion, correct, that's correct. I know Tiffany loves golf. I love golf, so you're a champion. Ooh, correct, that's correct. Can you tell us a little bit about how you became a champion and maybe who that was with, or you know a little bit of a story behind that? I will do that.
Tim SoucyGuest
26:18
So Tom and I get together on Thursday nights to play this Tom, this Tom.
Tom PrasolCo-host
26:23
Oh, wow.
Tiffany EddyCo-host
26:23
The reason I brought it up.
Tim SoucyGuest
26:28
So we play in a Thursday night league at Conquer Country Club and we don't always do well, but we enjoy each other's company and we have a good time. We have a good time. So a few years back, they have a member member at Conquer Country Club and I used to play with them. I play in the spring with this guy, dave Richardson, and I was playing in the fall with Bruce Berkey. Oh yeah, and Bruce couldn't make it one year. So Tom and I decided that we're going to give it a go and so we played.
27:00
The first year Didn't pan out well for us. This year comes along. Last year came along and Tom and I teamed up again and so we put a plan together. We said here we go. You know, let's consider, let's hope that we can do. We can play 600 each day and it'll get us in the running. Probably not going to win the tournament, but it'll put us in the running. It's a lofty goal. It is a lofty goal. So the first day we went out and we actually both played pretty decent. I think we ended five under. We ended up five under.
Tom PrasolCo-host
27:33
So close to our goal.
Tim SoucyGuest
27:34
Yeah, and so we went off to where we wanted to be but actually put us, I mean, more than midway through the field. I think we were probably somewhere in the top 10. Yep, feel, I think we were probably somewhere in the top 10. And so in the morning or in the afternoon I'll say this. Tom says you know, I actually had a couple beers in the afternoon towards the end of the round I started playing better. I said, yeah, that's fine, we can have a couple beers and loosen up. So I said, alright, yeah, so maybe tomorrow morning we change things up a little bit.
28:07
And Tom, I know Tom loves Bloody Marys, so I said yeah, let's, uh, let's, I'll bring some Bloody Mary mix, and you know we'll do that and see what happens. So we start out with Bloody Marys, we get on the tee box. Neither one of us have any, there's no nerves, we're just going out to play golf. And we did talk to the pro, brian, and we said you know, I asked him, I said what do you think that the winning score would be today? And he, point blank, said I think anybody that comes in at 15 under will do this they'll win it.
28:34
So Tom and I agreed that right off the bat we're not going to, like we did the first day, we're not going to look at the scoreboard, we're not going to ask for updates, just Just play golf. The two guys we were playing with we said we don't want to know where we are, it doesn't matter whether we're playing bad or whether we're playing good. We don't want to know. And I'll tell you a quick story after that about looking at the scoreboard. But anyways, so we go out and we start playing and we're actually hitting the ball very well, we're scoring pretty decently, and I think we both knew we were scoring pretty decent and so we kept it up. And, more importantly, we were having fun. We were having fun and so, well, I'll say before I go further.
29:17
We went to the second hole and I said to Tom I go, all right, we have to do this, we just have to do this. I said I brought some fireball. Oh, my word, let's just do a shot of fireball and see where things go. And so we do, we do, we take a little nip and both of us take a shot, and then we're off to the races. I mean, we struck the ball. Well, what we did is we played really well as a team because neither one of us we didn't make any mistakes together on the same hole, which is usually in a member-member will kill you. If you both score badly on a certain hole, you're going to lose stroke, and that didn't happen. Tom had some holes where he had two strokes. At one point I thought we had lost a stroke, but then Tom reminded me that he had two strokes in that hole and I think that was hole 13.
Tom PrasolCo-host
30:03
And then 15, I five-putted, yeah, tom. Oh, no, and I looked at Tim and said can you tell me to pick my ball up?
Tim SoucyGuest
30:10
yet. Yeah, I think Tom looked at the whole group and said is it okay if I pick my ball up? I looked at him. I said finish it up. So I'm looking now at about a 12-foot putt for par and I don't stroke on the hole. And one of the things I did say to Tom on that hole was, I said, this putt's downhill it's going to be very fast. I said so you know, think about that and I think whatever.
30:34
I told him and I think he took the driver out of his bag because that ball went about 20 yards off the green. So he did, he ended up, I think he chipped back up, he putted and he ended up. After about five putts we decided, okay, you're done. So now I'm looking at this 12 foot putt and I just be honest, I just closed my eyes, hit the ball and I just hear the punk into the cup. So we didn't lose a stroke there. Yeah, so I knew I go, you know what something good's happening.
31:01
And so we go to the 16th hole, which is par three. Um, oh no, you did you get a hole in one? Nope, nope, I wish, because that would have paid off even more. That would have been great. But we have when you're playing.
31:18
Well, the people that are in the clubhouse will get in golf carts and they'll come out and they'll see what people are doing. So they see the leaderboard inside the clubhouse or in the dining room doing. So they see the leaderboard inside the clubhouse or in the dining room and so people would come out to. They come out to the 16th hole and they'll sit up on the eighth, where the eighth hole is. If you're up on the hill, you can just look down on the 16th green, and so as we pass them, they don't say anything other than keep up the good work. And so right then, and there I'm like, all right, we're doing well. So we still didn't want to look. So we get to the 17th hole. I think we both made par, yep, oh no, yeah, whatever, we kept the score the same, yep. So we knew we were 15 under going into 18. Both of us hit drives, really good drives. Tom actually outdrove me, which First time for everything?
32:07
No, it wasn't the first time, but he hit a really good shot, aw.
32:12
The two guys we were playing with. I had hit my second shot and I happened to go into the sand trap to the right side of the green. So one of the guys that we were playing with said to me he says hey, go, coach, tom. He goes. You want to know where you guys are at? And I said, well, I guess at this point it doesn't really matter. And he goes. You have a two stroke lead over everybody and there's only one team that can catch you. And I think Tom heard something, wasn't sure if he actually heard Tim say well, I'm not telling him that.
Tiffany EddyCo-host
32:43
So then, how did that impact you mentally?
Tom PrasolCo-host
32:46
Well. So Tim comes up to me and says Tom, center of the green, you're getting a stroke here. Center of the green, two putt par. I remember I looked at Tim and said you know, I try to par every hole right, that's the objective. But sure enough, I, you know I overshot.
Tim SoucyGuest
33:03
He proceeded to hit the shot over the green, probably by about I don't know Three yards, three yards. And so we walk up and we're looking at my shot in the sand trap and I'm like, hmm, this isn't really good, it's one of those. It's on the hill. I'm going to have to have one foot in, one foot out.
33:21
So, we walk back and see his ball. He's sitting up nicely in the rough and I said, just flopping in the air, and he hit a really great shot. I mean it came down onto the green, probably went six feet by the hole. So now it's my turn to hit a shot. So I'm thinking, worst case scenario, we're going to still be 15 under par because Tom's not going to three-putt this, he's going to two-putt and he's going to stroke. Tom's not going to three-putt this, he's going to two-putt and he's going to stroke.
33:48
So I go over to my ball and I'm looking and I actually cleared the green from the guys that were sitting or standing on the other side. I said, hey, watch out, I have no idea where this is going. So I got my leg up on my right foot's out, my left foot's in and, by the grace of God, I came through that ball. I came through that ball. I hit it off out of the sand trap. It rolls down to literally what? Two inches from the pin of going in for the par, and all we hear is just banging on the window on the inside of the clubhouse and you can hear the yelling and screaming. And so I tap in for the par.
34:19
And so Tom still had a birdie opportunity. Well, par opportunity, but for a net birdie. We'll just say I net par'd it. Yeah, he net par'd it, so that ended that. So now we just had to wait. We went in People congratulating us, we're like it's not over. And Tom's like, what do you want for a drink? And I said let's just have a beer, because we may have to have a playoff.
Tom PrasolCo-host
34:40
I think they handed me an IPA, because that's usually what I drink after a round and Tim goes no, you're not drinking that, that's too much. We might have a playoff. And I was like sorry, Sadie, I need just a Miller Lite.
Tim SoucyGuest
34:53
So we waited and the one team that we thought could catch us on the 17th hole, they ended up getting another birdie. So we're at 15, they're in at 14. We watched them both hit good drives and then we proceeded to watch them. Unfortunately, and good fortune for us, that they both chunked their shots, their second shot. So we kind of felt pretty good. So that was the end. After that we just opened the bar up.
Tom PrasolCo-host
35:22
Opened the bar up and it was a good day.
Tim SoucyGuest
35:24
And the funny thing is is what the pro said 15 under is exactly what Tom and I came in 15 under I had no idea I was with such distinguished company here, like.
Tiffany EddyCo-host
35:37
I mean, I knew you're well, I've golfed with both of you and you know both these guys are really great golfers, but champions.
Tom PrasolCo-host
35:44
Yeah, champions for the next, what is it? 210 days, maybe Until.
Tim SoucyGuest
35:51
September.
Tom PrasolCo-host
35:51
Yeah.
Tim SoucyGuest
35:52
Yeah, so we like to aggravate people when we go to the bar on Friday nights. We'll hey champ.
Tiffany EddyCo-host
35:56
Hey, what's up? Champ, Champ yeah.
Tim SoucyGuest
35:58
And we just keep it going.
Tiffany EddyCo-host
35:59
Nothing wrong with that Nothing wrong with that? That is an awesome story. That is well. Having golfed with both of you and hopefully will again this year, you guys both have phenomenal drives, but anyway, we're not the Golf Channel, so we don't want to.
Tom PrasolCo-host
36:13
So okay, so I want to change gears a little bit and I kind of want to talk a little bit about the apple in your eye, in your family. And I'm not talking about Cosmo. I'm not talking about Emma. I'm not talking about your kids. I'm not talking about Cosmo. I'm not talking about Emma. I'm not talking about your kids. I'm talking about Lily, my granddaughter. Your granddaughter. I hear you talk about her all the time and I know you have a very soft spot, and Karen may have told me you have a very soft spot for her.
Tim SoucyGuest
36:37
So I have two granddaughters, braylon, who's going to be five, and Lily, who's going to be 11. And Lily was born with a disability Down syndrome. Sorry, no, she is the apple of my eye, just a great kid, you know, and I sit here and I, through the course of time, when you think about when I went to school, when I was in elementary school, I remember there was a school next to me and it was called the Mount Hope School and what they would. You know this is where they would put the kids that had Down syndrome. They all went to the school. You know this is where they would put the kids that had Down syndrome. They all went to this school and it's so great today to see that they put these kids now in classrooms with, you know, everybody else.
37:38
They're not segregated and she, just, lillian, just thrives being around other kids and her mother has done a phenomenal job with her. Doesn't treat her, you know, any different than you would treat a normal kid and she is just an amazing little girl who's very high function, very intelligent, and so when people say you know, know, you see things all the time and people sometimes people you know will say I'm sorry and you always say, you know, there's nothing to be sorry about. This is. This little girl is a gift, just like my.
38:18
My other granddaughter my other granddaughter, you know, was born deaf and these, you know, these kids have gone through things that other kids don't go through, so it's great to see her thriving the way she is. Like I said, she'll be at our house coming up in April because my daughter's going away on vacation, so we're going to have her for a couple nights and she's just the best little girl the both of them. They're just so awesome, awesome grandkids. But she's had some challenges and you know there was challenges before she was born. My daughter and I would have these conversations and I remember my daughter saying to me dad, you know all the things that they're telling me, um, this could be really bad for Lillian, um, and she said but she goes, I don't want to do anything other than give birth to this little girl.
Tom PrasolCo-host
39:22
And so I said yeah, well, I think one of my favorite stories and just tells you how intelligent she is is that Karen has told me that whenever you call her, she goes oh, grampy, and smacks her head. Oh, yeah, and she'll smack her head and she'll sit there, yeah.
Tim SoucyGuest
39:38
And so the other morning she actually called me. It's like 8.30. She's up early and she'll call at any time in the morning. So she calls and I answer the phone and I was actually just getting ready to bring the dog outside and I said, okay, lillian, I'll call you right back because Grampy's going to take the dog out. And she I watched her face on FaceTime and she looks at her mother and says Grampy's going to call me back.
Tiffany EddyCo-host
40:08
And so I'm like really, Another woman is doing that to you, right.
Tim SoucyGuest
40:13
And so I hung up with her and, sure enough, I call her back and she's funny, because when she's on FaceTime she just puts the phone up enough so you can just see her eyes and her forehead and she's just. You know, that's great, yeah, she's awesome, all right.
Tom PrasolCo-host
40:28
so one other thing I wanted to talk about is which is something I didn't know, but your love of Andrea Bocelli.
Tim SoucyGuest
40:37
Yeah, love Andrea Bocelli.
Tom PrasolCo-host
40:39
Yeah.
Tim SoucyGuest
40:40
Love it. Where did that start? You know, I don't know, I can't remember where it actually started, but whenever I was cooking a meal at home, I heard him on the radio. One time and I'm like man, I love this stuff so I would listen to it, downloaded his albums. So whenever I'm cooking at home, if I'm not going to disturb Karen, I'll put that on my wingman or my bow speaker.
41:11
I've really taken a liking to listen to him sing. So I'll tell you a funny story real quick, because I asked Karen if she wanted to go see Andrei Bocelli because he used to come around to TD Garden around Christmas time. Yeah, so she would listen to him with me, this and that, but most of the time I was listening to them with my headphones on if I'm in the other room. So she says, yeah, I'll go with you. And so when we get together she'll say things to these people like, yeah, I'm going to go see André Bocelli, you know, with Tim and make sure that I bring you know tissues so that I can wipe his eyes when he starts crying and everything like that.
41:48
So I buy the tickets and we go down with a good friend of ours, kathy Corey Fox, and we meet at the North End for dinner and then we go to the concert and so we get great seats in the loge and there's a family that probably brought their father there and as André Bocelli was singing, this guy would stand up and he would belt out the songs. Whatever Andre Bocelli was singing, this guy was right there just singing it, and I could see my wife. She wasn't looking at me and I think the song that it was Time to Say Goodbye with Christina Aguilera oh, that's beautiful. And so she's looking down at the stage and she wouldn't look at me and all of a sudden I see the tears streaming down her face and I reach into my pocket and I go here let me give you a tissue, let me give you a tissue.
42:36
Who's crying now? Yeah, and she's like leave me alone, leave me alone. And so, yeah, I just I've always. It was probably one of the best shows I've ever been to and I'm not afraid to say that I love the guy. I think his music is great and it's funny.
42:52
A real quick story. I was with a friend of mine, johnny McAllister, and we met for lunch down in Nashua and this was probably a couple months after we went to the concert. And so we're sitting at the bar and there's another couple sitting over next to us and I started telling Johnny that I says, yeah, I took Karen down. I told him the whole story about Andrei Bocelli and I'm going on and on about Andrei Bocelli and this gentleman says excuse me. And I said, yeah, he goes, I hate to interrupt you guys. I said no, no problem.
43:21
He says but I have to apologize and I go apologize for what? And he said I'm sitting here talking to my wife. He says but I have to apologize and I go apologize for what? And he said I'm sitting here talking to my wife. He says I'm listening to your conversation. He says I'm thinking this big, brutal I mean brutus-looking guy does not listen to Andrei Bocelli. There's no way this guy listens to Andrei Bocelli and then he goes. Yeah, but everything you were saying made sense and yeah, he goes. Now I truly believe that you listened to Andrei Bocelli and so I'm like.
43:52
You don't have to apologize, because my wife will always tell me, like when I'm out, she says I have this stern brow and she says I always look mean. So maybe this guy took it as I was angry or whatever, but I wasn't angry, it's just my— Related Huh, angry or whatever, but I wasn't angry, it's just my related. Related Absolutely. So yeah, it was pretty funny.
Tiffany EddyCo-host
44:11
Yeah, I've never thought of you as a brute kind of guy, but well, thank you, I appreciate that. Very sweet, you know, I like you.
Tim SoucyGuest
44:15
Oh, thank you, I like you too.
Tiffany EddyCo-host
44:18
So I'm just curious, like a term state rep and we don't talk about politics because it's anything but politics. But what was it that you know years, 29 years in the fire service? What was it about public service? I mean, obviously public servant is a firefighter, but then what made you want to get involved in the legislature and state government?
Tim SoucyGuest
44:39
So when I was on the fire department. I ended up getting in. I was on the executive board of the union and I actually became the vice president of the union. I served on the executive board of the union and I actually became I was vice president of the union. I served on the executive board for 17 years. I was the vice president. I served as, probably right now, the longest tenure president of Local 789.
44:59
And during my time as the union president I got to travel around the state, meet a lot of people, but I knew a lot of people from Nashua. I but I knew a lot of people from Nashua. I had good relationships with a lot of people in Nashua and I met a very good friend of mine, jane Clemons, who was a state rep in Nashua and she's like we really need to get firefighters involved in running for the legislature and I was just kind of like I don't know if it's something that I can fit in my docket of things that I have to do. I just I was so busy as union president. We had contracts, contract we're negotiating, just so many things going on. Then my friend, brian Rhodes, decided he was going to run. So he ran, I think, one term before I did, and so Jane would continue to talk to me all the time and so we had conversations.
45:49
Then I met Betty Lasky All these people that when I was union president, we endorsed a lot of people, a lot of senators from Nashville Dave Gottesman, betty Lasky, peg Gilmore so I knew all these people and so they just all kind of started saying the same thing you really need to run, you really need to run, you really need to run. So I finally said, all right, I'll try it one term and see what happens. And so, lo and behold, that's what happened. I got in and then, honestly, I had I think I was three terms in Nashua, and then I met Karen um up here. We got married. I was moving up here and I'm like, okay, that's it, I'm done, I'm not going to you know, and I move up here in 2016. And, lo and behold, they had an opening in Ward 7. It's like the mob.
46:35
Just when you think you're out, they drag you back in they called me up and they said, hey, do you want to run again? And I'm like, oh so, but here I am, here you are Eight terms later and you served on numerous committees.
Tom PrasolCo-host
46:47
You know, I think we first met when you were on transportation, yes, and then now you've been on labor for a number of years, were there other committees? No, I never served on any other committee Is labor your favorite.
Tim SoucyGuest
46:59
Labor is my favorite. Yeah, and it was. Steve Shurtleff was the Speaker of the House at the time that I went on to labor and he asked me because I was told that I was going to be asked to be a vice chair and I thought maybe it was going to be the Transportation Committee, because that's where I had been for all that time and I had met up with him and he said, yeah, no, we want you to be the vice chair of labor. And I'm like, okay, well, I guess that's going to change, but yeah, I guess that's going to change, but yeah.
Tom PrasolCo-host
47:26
Well, you come with a breadth of experience. I mean, you were sweeping floors in businesses starting at 11 years old, and then you were all the way up to union president or vice president. Yeah, know the.
Tiffany EddyCo-host
47:39
French hill. So you certainly have a lot of experience that you can bring to it. Any dirt on Tom that we should know about, and just like that.
Tom PrasolCo-host
47:47
It's time to say goodbye, when's Tom's birthday party.
Tiffany EddyCo-host
47:51
Were. We calling him Pretty Preysol.
Tom PrasolCo-host
47:53
Pretty Preysol.
Tiffany EddyCo-host
47:55
Any other stories from golf that we should know about?
Tom PrasolCo-host
48:00
It goes through a lot of balls.
Tiffany EddyCo-host
48:02
Well, you know what, speaking of which, actually, well, I guess we can wait. We have a special gift for you before you go. But before we get there, I just want to ask about you know future plans? Like, obviously you're in the legislature, but you know what's out there on the horizon for Tim Susie?
Tim SoucyGuest
48:22
I don't know. I mean I'm involved in a lot of things. I'm still. You know, I belong to a social club down in Nashua where I've served as a president down there for almost 12 years. Great social club, a lot of. We do a lot for charities, which is great.
48:39
Actually, real quick story. It was established in 1916, called the Club National, Started out as a bunch of young kids started playing hockey on Sandy Pond in Nashua. Some of these folks actually went on to play in the AHL back in the day, so it was a group of kids that were playing hockey. They buy this building. All of a sudden they come up with this name, the Club National, and so from 1916 to now it's still an established place and it was established to help local charities and so we've expanded that. I mean we have monthly meetings and we can give away anywhere between $2,000 to $15,000.
49:24
But we do a lot for local community I mean local charities in Nashua and we also give away money to like St Jude's we give to all the high schools around Christmas time, salvation Army, all that stuff. So I'm on the board there. I just actually got on the board at Conquer Country Club. So I had a property in Nashua I just sold recently back in November so I don't have the headaches of having to go down and work on a property anymore. So the future is wide open.
Tom PrasolCo-host
49:57
As long as it involves. Thursday nights at Conquer Country Club throughout the summer.
Tiffany EddyCo-host
50:04
Future is so bright, we've got to wear shades, well, as a thank you for being a special guest. One of our sponsors is a company called Majestic Balls, which is basically fun, playful, regal designs for sports enthusiasts, and this is our golf version. Hopefully it's not going crazy with the green screen here, but we'd like you to wear this with pride, absolutely, and apparently it shaves like guaranteed to shave at least three or four strokes off your golf game.
Tom PrasolCo-host
50:35
Wow, can I get a couple of those?
Tiffany EddyCo-host
50:37
No, thank you very much. No, you're cut off, yeah.
Tom PrasolCo-host
50:43
Thank you so much for joining us, tim. You know I've known you for a long time. I consider you a good friend and it was great to hear some stories that I didn't know about you and also give everyone the opportunity to also hear you know the background of your life.
Tim SoucyGuest
51:00
Oh, thank you.
Tiffany EddyCo-host
51:01
Yeah, and thank you, I mean for all of the years of service that you've given both in the fire department and the state legislature. I mean for all of the years of service that you've given both in the fire department and the state legislature. And you know, just for you know, sharing being an awesome dad and granddad and yeah, that's a real pleasure to hear all of the kind of the stories behind the man.
Tom PrasolCo-host
51:18
That's right, and when we win the member again this year, we'll come back on and tell that story.
Tiffany EddyCo-host
51:24
And do you give autographs?
Tim SoucyGuest
51:28
I haven't, because I write like a doctor, so maybe we'll have an autograph session when you win the club championship next time.
Tiffany EddyCo-host
51:34
But anyway, thank you so much for coming on.
Tim SoucyGuest
51:36
Thanks for having me on. Yeah, appreciate it.
Tiffany EddyCo-host
51:38
Pleasure and thank you for listening to our latest episode of. Anything but Politics where we talk about anything but politics. So, on behalf of Tom Prezal, of Demers Prezal and Thomas, Don't want to forget Thomas.
Tom PrasolCo-host
51:52
That's right.
Tiffany EddyCo-host
51:53
And I'm Tiffany Eddy of Tiffany Eddy Media. Thank you so much for listening, and we've got so many more exciting guests coming up you.
16:35