Baur, Fred (d. 1970)

The Mennonite obituary: 1970 Apr 7 p. 246

Birth date:

text of obituary:

Two boys killed in India Tragedy on the rails

Two missionary children, students at Woodstock School in north India, were killed in February while in a train accident returning to school after their annual vacation.

For some unknown reason, the boys climbed at night on top of the moving railway couch in which they and a party of Woodstock students were traveling. The boys apparently did not realize the danger in the dark and as the train crossed a bridge with overhead girders the boys were struck and instantly killed.

Ken Getter, seventeen, was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Bernie Getter of the Disciples of Christ Mission in Surguja District, M.P. He was a senior at Woodstock School.

Fred Baur, sixteen, a junior at Woodstock School, was the son of Mr. and Mrs. William Baur, Jr., of the United Church of Christ Mission, Baitalpur, M.P., India. Four days after the tragedy, Fred’s body had not yet been recovered from the river.

Woodstock School, located in the Himalayan Mountains, about 160 north of Delhi, has an annual three-months vacation — December through February. On Saturday, February 21, thirty-one missionary children were on their way to Woodstock School by train. Ben and Leona Sawatzky, General Conference Mennonite missionaries, escorted the party. Ben Sawatzkys and eighteen of the children in the party were from the General Conference Mennonite Mission while the others came from neighboring mission areas.