Elora's Jack Baumber remembered for love of family and legion

The love of family and friends was at the centre of John Baumber’s life.

John 'Jack' Stuart Baumber from Elora, passed away peacefully on Dec. 5, at the age of 81.

Baumber, a husband and father of three children, played an active role at the Elora Legion.

A longtime member and past president, Baumber was instrumental in initiating Pop Tabs for Wheelchairs, a program supported by Easter Seals Ontario, where volunteers collect tabs from cans to buy wheelchairs and other vital accessibility devices for children in need.

“My dad and legion member Ray Pearse, heard about the program, so they began saving pop tabs,” said Baumber’s daughter, Carol.

“It’s funny, I remember saying to my dad, you know this is probably just a rumour. Well, it wasn’t. They worked together with an aluminum company in Guelph. And there were transport truck drivers willing to transport the tabs down there too. So, they had a lot of help.”

Baumber had his own truck he used for the program, labelled the ‘pop tab truck.'

“There were times where I wanted to borrow my dad’s vehicle. I would think, oh no! Not the pop tab truck! My dad would say, don’t rent a car. I’ve got the pop tab truck,” Carol said.

“To me, it was just an old beater. And I would say, 'Oh no, do I have to take the pop tab truck?”

“I recall that pop tabs would come in the mail from all over the world,” Carol said.

“I remember my mom telling me about someone mailing tabs from Australia. It would have cost more to mail them than what they were actually worth, but people felt that they were really helping. So, dad had mom send thank-you cards.”

Baumber was the beloved husband of the late Yvonne Sheila (nee Steinhagen), father of Bonnie, Benjamin and Carol, and brother to Kevin Baumber and his deceased siblings Donna and Craig.

“He loved his grandchildren and was very close with them,” Carol said.  

Today, Carol lives in Vancouver but says her family always made an effort to get together when ever they could.

“Everyone would always stay at mom and dad's. My mom passed in January 2019, and after that, my dad just wasn’t the same,” Carol said.

“When my parents got together, my mom was only 15 and my dad was 18. From that moment on, it was just the two of them. It was a real love story. When she passed away, dad just kept saying that he wanted to be with her.”

Baumber was born in Harriston.

“My mom and dad lived in Teviotdale before coming to Elora in 1964, the year I was born. They built the house that we lived in my entire life. We sold the house in 2019. And that was really hard,” Carol said.

“When we moved into the house, the lot was empty. The back was all just long grass.”

At that time, Carol says there were only about 1,700 people living in Elora.

“It was just a vacant lot when we moved in. Mill Street was just bustling with people though, and today, it is now bustling with tourists,” Carol said.

Carol says her mother was always there for her father, and the two, often worked as a team.

“For the majority of his life, dad had a construction business, and my mom did his bookwork,” Carol said.  

“The legion meant so much to dad. When he was legion president, mom was his secretary. Dad worked at the bar there too for awhile, and also marched in the colour party for years.”

Carol says her father played a big role in organizing a variety of activities though the legion, especially for children at Christmas.

Baumber received the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal in recognition of his charity work with Pop Tabs for Wheelchairs.

“Dad also played euchre at the legion and at home with us kids and the grandchildren,” Carol said.

“He was a quiet man. I’m not sure if he was at the legion, but at home, he was firm but quiet. And there was always a soft spot."

When Baumber’s brother and nephew passed away in 1996, Baumber noticed that plot 229, the Elora Legion branch number at the Elora Cemetery, was right across from their burial site, and also also near the sites of his parents and mother-in-law.

“Dad insisted on purchasing it for his and my mom’s final resting place. We all had a good laugh when he did this. He really wasn’t one to ‘plan for the future.' That’s what my mom did,” Carol said.

“So, now they are together, and buried on plot 229 in Elora.”