Horace Baumer, 109, sings of a world that sleeps in heavenly peace

Dec. 17—POTTSVILLE — Horace Baumer was the guest of honor, but the 109-year-old also turned out to be the entertainment Friday at his birthday party in The Gardens at York Terrace.

In remarkably fine spirits for someone who was born a week before Christmas in 1913, Baumer sang Christmas carols, told tall tales, did Santa Claus imitations and amazed the 30 or so staff and friends at the party with his zest for life.

"He was always feisty," said Joan Laudeman, 86, who was his neighbor on Carbon Street in Minersville for more than 30 years. "He was the boss — he'd always tell it like it was."

Baumer lived in his longtime Minersville home until July, when he fell and spent two months in the hospital. Afterward, he moved into The Gardens at York Terrace.

Marty Stoyer, a friend and confidant, said Baumer's father died in the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918, and his mother passed away of tuberculosis a few years later.

Baumer was raised by his grandmother, Anna "Granny" Baumer, on Teaberry Hill, in Minersville.

Granny Baumer didn't have much money, Baumer said, but she'd give him a few pennies and send him to the railroad depot to buy a watermelon.

"The watermelons were 25 cents, and we couldn't afford one," said Baumer, confiding that he loves watermelon. "But when one would fall on the ground and burst, Mr. Zubroff would say, 'There's your nickel watermelon.' "

At Girard College in Philadelphia, then a home for orphaned boys, Baumer learned a machinist's trade. Among other jobs, he was a machinist at Bethlehem Steel's Grace Mine near Morgantown for about 25 years.

He's been retired for more than 40 years, Stoyer said.

Baumer amazed onlookers when, in one breath, he blew out candles with the numbers "109" on a tiny cake.

"Wow, where did that breath go," he remarked. "Get it back — I could use it."

Baumer appeared to be in good health, though his eyesight and hearing aren't what they used to be.

He was somewhat of the mayor of Carbon Street, known and liked by just about everyone.

Baumer grew a fantastic garden, Laudeman said, and supplied the entire neighborhood with tomatoes, peppers and eggplants.

Horace and Genevieve Baumer had four children, Stoyer said, but all lived only a few days. It had something to do with a blood deficiency, he said.

Horace "Mo" Baumer and Genevieve Petchkofski were married on June 23, 1940, in Minersville. She died at age 85 in 2002.

They had a camper, pulled by a Chevy pickup, and vacationed at campgrounds in Maryland.

"Mo drove that old stick-shift Chevy pickup until he was in his 90s," Laudeman said.

Mo was a regular guest at her table on Thanksgiving and Christmas, Laudeman said, and she took him shopping every Thursday at the Giant in Cressona Mall.

"The girls at Giant always made a fuss over him," Laudeman said.

His appeal was apparent when he crooned the lyrics of old favorites by Al Jolson, the 1920s jazz singer, and lent his deep baritone to an energetic and timely "ho-ho-ho."

The social room at The Gardens was decorated with gold balloons shaped as "109," and the staff and the Minersville Area Historical Society presented him with gifts. Residents and visitors were served cookies and generous portions of Bauman's birthday cake.

Dora Santarelli, historical society secretary, said Bauman was an early member of the organization. He has a treasure trove of historical knowledge about the borough, and she's recording it for the society's archives.

Baumer is enthralled by Locomotive No. 113, Minersville's so-called Santa Train, Santarelli said.

A member of the former English Lutheran Church in Minersville, Baumer sang the hymns "He Walks With Me" and "In the Garden," accompanied on electric piano by Aaron Rutz, the facility's chaplain.

He surprised visitors with an a cappella rendition of "The Ballad of Mamie Riley," which he says was written about a real person in Minersville.

A master of fish stories, Bauman said that when the fish weren't biting, he would sing the ballad.

"When I'd sing 'Mamie, Mamie Riley,' " Bauman said, "by darn it, I swear the fish would start biting."

He brought down the house with that story.

Janet Stoyer, a friend, attributed Bauman's longevity to his outlook on life.

"He's always positive, he's loved and he's always grateful," said Stoyer, a retired sales manager. "He cares about everybody else, and that gives him strength."

When he sang "Silent Night" with Rutz, visitors and guests joined in.

A week short of his 109th Christmas, Horace Wilson "Mo" Baumer sang of a night where "all is clam, all is bright," and the world "sleeps in heavenly peace."

Contact the writer: rdevlin@republicanherald.com; 570-628-6007