Tim Cagle - Class of 1977

Timothy (Tim) Cagle was born at Orange Memorial Hospital in 1958, the eldest child of Billy and Betty Cagle.  They moved to Bridge City the following year and lived on David Street.  Tim has two brothers; David was a Constable for Precinct 2 in Orange County, and Steven lives in Nederland and works for the Bridge City Police Department. 

When Tim was in high school, his life centered around sports.  He played football, earning a 2-year letter, and baseball, earning a 4-year letter jacket.  He recalled, “Like most people, the older I get, the better I used to be!”  His senior year, in 1977, the baseball team went to regionals.  “That was a big achievement back then”, he said. 

Tim’s fondest memories while in high school include the friendships he acquired and, in many cases, still has today.  “Facebook has helped me keep up with a lot of people that I would not have, but I have to say there are a few people that I have seen recently at weddings and funerals that you would never know we had not seen each other in 35 years!  Those relationships are very special “.  

Tim recalled taking the school bus to the old BCYRA ballpark near the Gulf States Power Plant, now Entergy, after school every day to practice and play varsity games.  “It was my sophomore year when the baseball field at the high school opened.  Coach Check Young and Dexter Leleux literally spent hours of their own time raking and cutting the new field to get it ready to play.  I was very happy to hear that Bridge City High School named a new ballpark after Coach Young.  He was very deserving of the honor”, said Cagle 

After high school, Tim gave up baseball and concentrated on his education, much to his dad’s insistence.    Tim received his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering at Lamar University in Beaumont and then his master’s degree at the University of Houston, both with honors.  He was inducted into the Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honour Society and became a registered Professional Engineer in the State of Texas.

In 1981, Tim decided against working for Motorola and Texas Instruments even though his training was in microelectronic design, and went to work for Dow Chemical in Houston as an engineer.  What he thought would be an 18-24-month job turned into a 21-year career.  Tim held several different jobs in engineering, manufacturing, and then business/commercial.  During his last five years at Dow Chemical, he was asked to take a job in Switzerland.  “The good thing about working for a big company was that they let you do a lot of things that you were not necessarily trained for.  It was that experience doing oil trading that really changed my life.  In my time in Zurich, I got enough people's attention that several asked me to join them”, he said.

In 2002, Tim decided he wanted to see if he could trade for a professional trading company.  He was offered a job in London for Vitol, the largest private trading company in the world today.  At the time it was a relatively small company but growing very fast.  “This was somewhat of a risk since I was 40 years old at the time.  Trading houses are ruthless places to work.  You either make money or you get to find somewhere else to work.  There is no grey area or places to hide”, he said.   Tim worked at Vitol for 12 years before announcing his retirement. “In the course of that time, I have literally had naval ships, Russian and American,  surround my oil tanker in the Black Sea, had to make an emergency take off after running across the tarmac to get to the plane before the militia could block our path in Tripoli, had a ship commandeered by Libyan rebels during the fall of Gaddafi and had pirates chasing my chartered ship in the Arabian Sea to try to steal the oil.   In each case, we were able to negotiate to get the ships released.  The US Navy, as our escort, blew the pirates’ ship out of the water. So much for negotiation in that instance.  All of this was very stressful and exciting as I look back. The experiences and some of the people I have met would make a great novel!” he said. 

Tim did not like retirement, so he went back to work for himself.   He currently serves on the Boards of Directors for several technology companies, invests in start-up companies, and manages his family office.  “My focus is mainly technology as it is applied to disrupt age-old ways of doing business as well as cyber security, but I do still have my finger in oil as well.  I am currently developing a gasoline blending plant in Brazil.  In my spare time, I have invested in a restaurant in central London that is showing good promise”, he commented.   

Tim has traveled to almost every continent in the world.  According to Google Maps, he did the equivalent of 4.5 times around the globe in 2018.  In 2019, he began slower, with only a trip to the United States, Albania, and China so far, but “I expect I will be spending much more time in Brazil in the second half of this year.  I still like to experience new things and meet new people.  It is amazing to me how similar people are regardless of skin color, religion, etc.   People just want their family to be happy and secure,” he went on to say. 

Tim travels back to the United States from London quite a bit for business and family, so “I get my dose of Tex-Mex, crawfish, and Texas Bar-B-Q.  I never say never, but I do not have plans to leave London now.  I love living in Europe, and I am forever thankful for my beginnings in Bridge City.  I love living in a big cosmopolitan city.  We normally take our holidays in Italy, South of France or Barbados,” he said. 

“My family consists of my wife, Petrina, and my five children, one grandchild, and Humphrey, our dog.  My children, Kelli and Kevin, from my first marriage, live in Houston, Texas.  Kelli is married and has a little girl, Emma, and another on the way, due September 2019.  I also have a 10-year-old son, Thomas, and twin girls, Chloe and Olivia, who are six years old.   The fact that my granddaughter and my youngest children are only three years apart is the source of many jokes at my expense.  I didn’t exactly do this the conventional way!  I love spending time with all my children.  Slowing down a bit has meant I can generally be where they need me to be,” commented Tim.

Tim went on to say, “I have been very fortunate. I can’t say things have always gone the way I planned, but they worked out. God’s plan sometimes isn’t that straightforward, I suppose.  In my case, some of it was luck, and some of it was just hard work.  I don’t discount the solid family that I was blessed with, coaches who taught me how to work hard, teachers who saw something in me to challenge me when all I really wanted to do was play ball, and last but not least, the chance to grow up in a safe environment like Bridge City.  I do consider myself lucky and am very grateful”.

“I do think it is important to give back.  I don’t think I do enough in this area yet, but I try to help people I care about if needed,” Tim said.  “Through my company, I support Raise Your Hands, a community that supports exceptional small charities working with young people.  Additionally, I plan this year to establish a memorial for my brother, David.  He was my best friend, and I really miss him.  David died suddenly in September 2018.  I think I want to do something with the Special Olympics Rodeo to honor him. While that is a work in progress for me at the moment, I know this was an organization he gave a lot of his time to, so I think that is the right direction.  David worked tirelessly during the hurricanes to help other people in Orange County, many times at his own peril.  He was my best friend, and I want to do something to remember him by”.   

Tim’s parents died in 2003 and 2004, and his brother David in 2018.  

END

Written by Charlotte Schexnider Chiasson (Class of 1970)