Baughman, Harold Christian (1901-1987)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 1987 Sep 3 p. 11

Birth date: 1901

text of obituary:

HAROLD C. BAUGHMAN

Harold Christian Baughman, 86, Bloomfield, Iowa, died July 16, 1987, at Davis County Hospital, Bloomfield.

He was born March 28, 1901, in Davis County to William Christian Baughman and Anna Augspurger Baughman. He grew up on a farm south of Pulaski, Iowa, graduated from Pulaski High School and attended Iowa State University in Ames. He married Gladys Mae Meredith on Jan. 3, 1929, in the home of his sister, Edna Swartzendruver, rural Pulaski. They were lifelong farmers in the Pulaski and Bloomfield area.

He was a member of the Pulaski Mennonite Church, a past member of the board of trustees of Bluffton (Ohio) College and a lifetime member of the president's club of Bluffton College. He was a past soil conservation district commissioner, past president of Citizens Mutual Telephone Co., a member of Independent Telephone Pioneer Association of Southeast Iowa and lifetime member of the Aberdeen Angus Cattle Association.

He is survived by his wife, Gladys Mae; three sons, James M. Baughman and wife, Carol, William C. Baughman and wife, Barbara, both sons of Pulaski, and Glenn R. Baughman and wife, Ann Marie, of Des Moines, Iowa; two daughters, Mary Ann Fisher and husband, Lloyd, and Joy Evans and husband, Steven, of Bloomfield; two brothers-in-law, Bayard Fordemwalt of Pulaski and Orville Litwiller of St. Petersburg, Fla.; 15 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his parents, a brother, Warren W. Baughman, three sisters, Esther Fordemwalt, Edna Swartzendruver and Helen Litwiller; an infant child and an infant granddaughter.

He was a devoted worker in his church. He served as church trustee for 29 years, and often attended the Central District Conference sessions as a delegate from Pulaski Church. He represented Central District on the Bluffton College board for many years.

He is fondly remembered in the community for years of singing with close friends in a men's quartet and for his commitment to four-part singing and its value in worship. He supported and advised many young, first-assignment ministers of the Pulaski Church, seeing their inexperience as an opportunity for the congregation to set a positive course for their ministries. He was committed to decision-making in the congregation by consensus and waiting for the Holy Spirit to work.

He believed in stewardship in its broadest sense and taught family members to regard the land and its gifts not as possessions to be exploited, but entrusted to man by God for a brief time to leave in better shape for future generations. He had a consuming interest in preserving the family farm through conservation of soil and protection of environment. In 1966 he was recognized as Outstanding Soil Conservation District Commissioner in Iowa by "Wallaces Farmer" magazine and also received recognition from the State Soil Conservation Committee of Iowa for devoted service as district commissioner.

Funeral services were held July 18 at Pulaski Mennonite Church, with burial in Pulaski Cemetery. Memorials may be made to Pulaski Mennonite Church Library or Davis County Hospital Long-Term Care Center.

Transcribed by Ralph Shetler, Oregon

The Mennonite obituary: 1987 Aug 11 p. 352