[Oe List ...] Jim Baumbach: A Westside Story

[Isobel and Jim]

Thank you so much for the memorable story  Carol and George. 
With my love, 
Isobel 



Isobel Bishop
Mob.  0412 129 425

> On 5 Dec 2025, at 2:42 am, carol.walters--- via OE <oe at lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote:
> 
> 
> The following story was written by George Walters after we talked together about our memories of the Baumbach's when we lived and worked together.
> 
> Jim Baumbach: A Westside Story
> By George Walters
> 
> It was a cold Chicago winter, 1977, and the old Westside Bethany Seminary where the ICA colleagues lived to work in Fifth City was suddenly without heat for the third time. All the stopgap solutions had not worked on the ancient steam heating system. We were getting quotes on a new system, which for an NGO budget were astronomical.
> 
> Jim had spoken to me several times about a treatment and restoration system of the old system and pipes that his company sold around the world and so we talked again and he said, “Let me show you what is possible.”  I okayed a modest budget so he could go to work.
> 
> We managed to clunk along for several days by wearing sweaters and jackets, kept warm enough to work.  Suddenly after about a week, the heat was on everywhere. A knock on my door and Jim was standing there smiling and saying, “come look.”
> 
> Down into the basement we went, and I could hear the roar of the furnace as we approached and there it was – new pipes painted red, and a series of drums of chemicals across the floor with tubing tied into new valves with handles you could turn. He and our building super, Mike Ford, were beaming from ear to ear as they explained to me the technology and the chemicals being applied.
> 
> “This tank will begin to clean out the rust and corrosion across the entire 5 story campus” he said. “This tank will prevent new build up of corrosion” he added. “This big barrel will collect the corrosion which we can then have hauled away. Mike will gradually increase the corrosion, removal chemicals and increase the chemicals that prevent build-up.  I will help him monitor.”
> 
> But then there was the long-term issue. It was still an old system which could have other ailments. The chemicals were costly and would need to be sustained to sustain the system. Jim just smiled and said, yes that is all true, but we’ll tackle that next winter. I agreed. I’m not sure how the rest of that winter got paid for, but I think I know. By the next winter, I was gone and we soon left the old campus in favor of the Bethany Hospital’s expansion plan.
> 
> Today as we mourn Jim’s passing, we all remember the consummate professional he was, and the generous spirit he embodied as shown in this one of many stories.
> 
> 
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