Wilbur P. Baumann (2017)

Wilbur was one of those people that everyone in town needed sometime in their lives, for plumbing or electrical work or just general advice on various topics.

            Wilbur was born in 1910 to Cornelius and Bertha Yanke Baumann in Queens. He and his family (siblings Russell, Cornelius, and George) moved to Greenville around 1912. He would come to own Baumann’s Contractors, a business his father had started in 1923.

            Wilbur married Thelma “Tut” Boomhower in 1932, had two sons Ron and Tom, seven grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren at the time of his passing.

            Wilbur was a joiner: a member of the Greenville-Norton Hill Methodist Church, Greenville Cemetery Director, Greenville Volunteer Fire Company (Life Member, Charter Member, Fire Chief, Fire Commissioner), Chairman of the Greene County Board of Electrical Examiners, Greene County Saving Bank Director, Greene County Fire Advisory Board, Charter Member of the Greenville Rotary Club, and a community member of committees as the need arose: highway garage, water, etc.

            People who knew Wilbur knew a strong minded person, one who wanted things done right, one who might not compromise his high standards. No problem was too big to be solved; in his calm and unexcited demeanor, he would tackle it until fixed

 - by Don Teator, Greenville Town Historian