Otto Baumgartner

Otto was my grandfather on my mother's side of the family. He was born and raised in Bangerten Switzerland. He had six siblings named Alexander, Ruedi, Fritz, Gottlieb, Franz, and Anna. They lived-in a large swiss style home on farm acreage which also had a attached shoe factory which the family ran. They owned a shoe store in Bern and maintained a very successful business. Otto, Alex, and Gottlieb decided that they wanted to leave the family business and immigrate to America. They crossed the Atlantic ocean on a passenger ship called Canada. They arrived at Ellis Island on May 3, 1920 and secured employment in Washington DC as chefs at the US Senate. Gottlieb became renowned for his famous senate bean soup. Otto decided to venture out on his own and opened "Baumgartners Bakery" in the DC area. He was very fluent in the German, French, Italian, and swissduesch which was a swiss dial ct of the German language. Upon immigration he struggled learning to speak the English language and sought out a tutor who could help him speak more fluently. His tutor was my grandmother and his future wife Hazel Walston who had left her family home in Kansas several years earlier upon graduating high school to attend Columbia University majoring in Latin. They developed a romance and became married and soon after had two children, Allen Baumgartner and Alice Evelyn (Eve) Baumgartner. Eve was my mother who passed away in January of 2015. Otto and Hazel spent long hours in the bakery making a go of it. Eventually they closed the business and moved to Kansas. Unfortunately their marriage ended and Otto moved to San Francisco California where he took on a job as a chef on a cruise ship. My mother moved out to live with her dad after she graduated from Kansas City Art Institute. They shared a apartment and my mom took a job working at Blythe and Company. She also worked as a dancer for a San Francisco Chorus company. Otto and Eve both were accomplished artists and would often show their works at several San Francisco art shows. Otto not only was a painter but he was very skilled at wood carving making very intricate animal carvings. When Otto was not out at sea he and Eve enjoyed the San Francisco Night life and became very good friends with the owners of A nightclub called the "Three little Swiss". It was there that they met some famous entertainers one of whom was Frank Sinatra. They sure did enjoy `each others company and my mom always felt close to her father. In 1950, Eve's best friend Jennie, who moved with her from Kansas, set her up on a blind date with a sailor who just happened to be in port. Don Krumlauf, my dad, fell head over heels in love with Eve. Several weeks later they were married by a Navy Chaplain at the naval base on Treasure Island in San Francisco.