BAUMANN, Viola

BAUMANN, JOHNSON, HANSON, MUELLER, WATKINS

Posted By: Lynette Edsall (email)
Date: 9/12/2006 at 15:04:37

Viola (Johnson) Baumann

CHEROKEE, Iowa -- Viola (Johnson) Baumann, 89, Cherokee, passed away Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2005, at the Cherokee Regional Medical Center following a brief illness.

Services will be 10:30 a.m. Thursday, at Trinity Lutheran Church in Cherokee, with the Rev. Richard Arndt officiating. Burial will be in Oak Hill Cemetery, Cherokee. A family prayer service will be at 10:15 a.m. at the church. Visitation will be 4 to 8 p.m. with the family present on Wednesday at Boothby Funeral Home in Cherokee.

Viola was born on Nov. 6, 1916, in Cherokee County, Iowa, to Magnus and Emma (Hanson) Johnson. She was baptized in Christ on Nov. 26, 1916, and renewed her baptismal covenant in the rite of confirmation on March 24, 1929, at Trinity Lutheran Church at rural Marcus, Iowa. She attended country school for eight years and graduated from Wilson High School, Cherokee, in 1935. She worked at Baumann's Home Bakery, followed by four years as secretary to the Superintendent of Schools, J.C. Hoglan. The next two years were spent in Washington, D.C., during World War II, for the National Housing Agency.

On April 23, 1944, she married Gerhart Baumann at St. John's Lutheran Church, Denver. After the war, she and her husband returned to Cherokee where they were owners of Baumann's Home Bakery for 25 years, retiring in January of 1970.

She was a member of Trinity Lutheran Church, Cherokee, and has served on many committees in the Lutheran Women's Missionary League, Martha Circle, Senior Saints Bible Class and Adult Bible Class. She also enjoyed doing Braille work, visiting the sick and shut-ins from church. She served as church organist for many years at Trinity and four years in Aurelia at St. Paul's Lutheran Church. In 1983, she was privileged to serve her Lord in Monrovia, Liberia, as a volunteer for Lutheran Bible Translators. She served as Lutheran Bible Translators Representative from 1998 until 2001.

Survivors include one son, Paul Baumann and his wife, Lunda, Godfrey, Ill.; two daughters, Bernice Mueller and her husband, Marlin, Wentzville, Mo., and Mary Baumann, Dahinda, Ill.; four grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Gerhart on Nov. 28, 1972; her brother, Harold Johnson and his wife, Delores; a twin brother, Vernon Johnson and his wife, Johanna; and a sister, Mable Watkins and her husband, Wesley.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorials be made to the Lutheran Bible Translators or the Trinity Lutheran Church.