One of the people whom I have known since high school passed away at the end of last year. It’s taken me this long to put down some thoughts and remembrances because a shining light in the world is gone.
The mold really was broken when Preston came into the world.
I met Preston Tinsley (also known on this site as PT) on my first day in high school. He was the AV guy in the school library and an advisor on the yearbook. He was a regular fixture all through my high school years and (fun fact!) the first man I ever saw in drag.
After high school and (community) college, I started doing shows at the local theater. Preston and his wife were heavily involved there. Never in a million years would I have thought that I would have a friendship with one of my high school librarians. But it happened. We did tons of shows. They hosted lots of gatherings at their house. A Tinsley gathering was always a fun time, and invitations were coveted. Preston always had a funny story to tell. Always had a scheme for a new show to do. He spent years performing as his drag alter ego, Codiene Bougolay (sp?). He loved making people laugh.
And don’t remember exactly how it happened, but Preston and I fell into hiking. Mostly it was just us. Sometimes we would be joined by others (like Michael or Matt or Stephanie). We spent so much time in the woods talking about life and the state of the world. I picked the photo above because it was a particularly memorable hike (and we had many). Preston almost accidentally killed me that day. It really was always an adventure with him along.
I don’t specifically remember the year that he received the offical Alzheimers diagnosis. It wasn’t a big shock to those of us who knew him. His memory on certain things had been failing for a few years already. He would be talking about someone he had known for years, and he wouldn’t be able to pull their name. That’s just one example. Preston’s father had died from Alzheimers, and he had said for years that he thought he would have it as well.
The hikes came to an end after his diagnosis, even though he would call up asking when we would be going again. I am not sure that his wife would have wanted him out in the woods, and I was worried that I might lose him out there. I would turn around, and he would have wandered off the trail. That may have been an irrational fear, but it weighed heavily on my mind.
The last time I saw him in person was in the latter half of 2022 at a rehearsal for Steve’s retirement party. When he saw me, he immediately started talking about hiking and asking when we would be out in the woods again. I am convinced that if I had asked him my name, he wouldn’t have known it. But his brain still connected my face with trips into the wilderness. “That’s the guy I hike with.”
I miss the hikes. I miss the phone calls. I miss his random bike rides during the week to my house that would end with us sitting on the porch talking when I should have been busy working.
I miss you, Preston.
Preston Lewis Tinsley
1946 – 2025
