La Vern H. Timmerman was born on May 8, 1909, in the town of Jamestown near Sinsinawa, in Grant County, Wisconsin. Reared in a deeply religious family, he was educated in a Catholic elementary school before attending high school and college at Loras Academy and College in Dubuque, Iowa. After earning a master's degree at Loras in 1930, he studied for the priesthood at Kenrick Seminary at Webster Groves, Missouri. Ordained in 1934, Fr. Timmerman served in several predominantly rural parishes in west-central and southwestern Wisconsin for many years; even while assigned parishes in such larger communities as Marshfield and Prairie du Chien he retained a deep interest and concern about individuals engaged in agriculture and issues affecting their welfare.
In the 1930's, many rural priests grew very concerned about the plight of farmers in the midst of the Depression. The most active Catholic organization to spearhead the effort to improve farmers' conditions was the National Catholic Rural Life Conference, led by Monsignor Luigi Gini Liguitti. Among those influenced by Liguitti was Father Urban Baer, with whom Fr. Timmerman first made contact in 1936 since they served neighboring rural parishes in Monroe County, at Cashton and St. Mary's. Concerned about the survival of
the family farm during the fateful thirties, both Baer and Timmerman encouraged their parishioners to improve their farming methods by following the advice of county agricultural extension agents and soil conservation experts and to improve the overall condition of the agricultural economy by participating in such organizations as the Farmers' Union. In the early 1960's, Fr. Timmerman was assigned a pastorate at Sacred Heart Parish in Marshfield. While there, the Bishop of the La Crosse Diocese established an Apostolate for Migrant Workers, the territory of which extended from Stevens Point to Waushara County, to serve the spiritual and economic needs of the thousands of migrant farm workers who lived and toiled in Wisconsin each summer.
