Herbert Baumgartner (1st February 1924 – 25th May 2011)
(This was taken from the July 2011 edition of “The Villages”.)
It is with great sadness that I pass on the news that Herbert Baumgartner passed away on 25th May, 2011. St. Mary’s Church was full when his Funeral and Thanksgiving Service was held on Thursday, 9th June and I give below a précis of the Tribute read out by Pat Maundrell.
Herbert was born on 1 st February 1924 in Sasbach, Baden, Germany. His parents, and grandparents before them, owned vineyards and orchards in the village of Ober Achern and enjoyed quite a privileged lifestyle.
Herbert spent the whole of his early education in the village school and left at age 14. Two years earlier, when he was 12 years old, his sister Elsa had been born and he has always kept in touch with her and spoken most fondly of her and of the place where he spent his youth. She is unfortunately unable to be here today due to ill health.
At age 16 Herbert continued his education by going off to Engineering School in Strasbourg for two years where he achieved 78% in his final exams. He was first employed by the Air Ministry and spent a short time working at North German Airfields mainly flying gliders. He had first acquired a love of flying at age 12 when he had learned to pilot a glider and so was really enjoying his new job.
Sadly the outbreak of War put an end to this and Herbert was conscripted, aged 18. It was 10.20 on a Sunday morning, during a training flight, when his aircraft was hit causing oil to spray all over the canopy and also fire broke out. There was no alternative but to bale out and on landing, his knee was very badly injured. He was captured and taken to hospital in Belgium where he had surgery. A few weeks later he was on ferry bound for England as a prisoner of war.
Ever reluctant to talk about those times he would always emphasise his relief at being removed from the conflict. He arrived in Southampton on 12th. February 1943 aged barely 19 years old. He always said that he felt extremely lucky to be alive and very thankful to be finished with the war. The POWs worked on the farms during the day and Herbert worked at Melksham, hoeing root crops and also at East Kennet where he ran and maintained the grain dryer. He and Franz Staedtler, a fellow prisoner, were eventually sent to work at Manor Farm, Bishops Cannings for farming brothers, Jim and Dick Coombes. During his time there, Herbert was often working in the vicinity of the Roman Road which was the boundary with Manor Farm, Calstone. He remembers looking across and down into the valley towards Calstone and thinking that it looked like a beautiful park and he hoped that he would have the opportunity to explore it one day. A while later a situation arose when Jim and Dick Coombes had to shed some labour and more was needed in Calstone. This is how Herbert and Franz came to work here, being taken on by farming brothers: George and Michael Maundrell. Ultimately, they both remained here for the rest of their lives with Herbert continuing to work on the farm until his retirement. He was a very hard-working, loyal and honest employee; a trusted and respected member of the workforce on the old Farms of Calstone.
When the war ended, a favourite excursion was to the regular Country Fair in Devizes where one day, in the Market Place, he drew up in front of two girls sitting on a bench and thus introduced himself to his future wife, Ruth. She had come over from Germany on contract to work on the wards at Roundway Hospital; the rest is history. Many years later, in 1971 when South Farm was sold, they made a final move to No. 10, Calstone. Herbert and Ruth were a very close and very devoted couple who lived a simple, humble, and happy life together. They could be admired for being undemanding to a fault, totally unaffected by materialism and seeming always to be content and happy with their lot in life. In retirement Herbert kept himself busy with various jobs for neighbours and he always helped Ruth with the weekly cleaning of the church and regularly took his turn at mowing the churchyard. When Ruth’s health began to fail, Herbert took over the household duties and looked after all her needs for the two or three years before she died. About 18 months ago Herbert made the decision that his eyesight had become too poor for driving safely and he eventually became house-bound. The iconic little, red Robin Rialto, which has been a long-standing landmark in the village, remained parked outside number 10; he called it his ‘old friend’ and liked to be able to see it there. He has given instructions for it to be sold and the proceeds to be given to this church.
With the support of Irmgard, widow of his friend Kurt and with regular help from a number of neighbours, Herbert was able to continue to livehis life, at home. Herbert was REALLY VERY appreciative and extremely grateful for the kindness, consideration and attention he received from the community here.
Sadly, he had to go into hospital for a short time at the very end of his life, but he died with friends present which was, hopefully, a comfort. We will miss him very much as one of the dwindling numbers of old characters in this village. It is the end of an era in the history of our farm and the men who worked here. As he is reunited, in death, with his beloved wife, may he rest in peace in the place he chose as home and which he loved so much.
Ruth Baumgartner
(The following obituary for Herbert’s wife Ruth was originally published in the Jan 2006 edition of “the Villages”)
It is with great sadness that we record the passing away of Ruth Baumgartner on November 18th. She leaves behind her devoted husband, Herbert.
Ruth was born in Berlin where her father owned a chain of shops. She had successfully passed her diploma as make-up artist and manicurist and planned to go to the USA to work there. However, she came to England to take up a temporary post nursing at Roundway Hospital in Devizes and she and Herbert met and after a courtship of six months they got married.
Herbert was already living at Calstone and was working for the Maundrells Ruth carried on working in a variety ofjobs including working on electronic keyboards for a Calne company and helping out in the N.A.A.F.I at Compton Bassett. She gave up working when she became forty in order to devote herself to Herbert. She was a kind, caring and helpful person, cleaning and looking after the church for twelve years, and Herbert says she was the best wife he could ever have had.