TOMAH - Lillian “Lynn” Lucille Baumgarten, of Tomah, passed away at the Serenity House on Monday, March 18, 2024. She was 75.
Lynn was born on January 25, 1949, to Henry and Georgia (Goodman) Cordle in Doran, Virginia. When she was 3, the family moved to Stateline Branch, Kentucky, where Henry worked as a coal miner. In 1965, Lynn moved with her family to Milwaukee, where she completed her education at Washington High School.
While working in the mailroom at the Inland Steel Company in Milwaukee, she met Thomas “Tom” Baumgarten, a young draftsman from Tomah. On December 27, 1969, the couple married at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Tomah. After brief stays in Georgia and Milwaukee, they settled down in Tomah where they built their lifelong home and later adopted two boys, Eric and Mark.
Lynn was a member of Queen of the Apostles Catholic Parish and served in the Parish Council of Catholic Women. She would volunteer in the church kitchen for funeral luncheons and soup suppers preceding the Stations of the Cross. She was an avid quilter and took great pleasure in making beautiful, warm quilts for friends and family. She also made altar cloths for Queen of the Apostles, as well as dozens of baby quilts for use during baptisms at the church.
For more than 20 years, she worked in the billing department at Tomah Memorial Hospital. She was also employed by the Tomah Cash Store for 8 years.
She enjoyed playing euchre with friends and loved animals. Lynn also found joy in traveling with Tom and visited lighthouses throughout the country. When not traveling she enjoyed spending time at home with her pets, sitting in the four-season porch, watching wildlife outside and playing games on her iPad. Later in life, she and Tom ate breakfast most mornings at Perkins.
She also relished every opportunity to spend time with her granddaughter Davis, who was the delight of her life.
Lynn is survived by Tom, her sons Eric (Sandy) Baumgarten of Tomah and Mark (Paige) Baumgarten of Minneapolis, and her granddaughter Davis. She is further survived by her brother Jeffrey Cordle and her sisters, Pamela Frost, Marsha Pickl, Tommie Blackburn, Nancy Justice and Barb Beaudry.
She is preceded in death by her parents, brother William Ernest “Ernie” Cordle and sister Jo Ann Cordle.
The family would like to extend its sincere gratitude to the staff of Serenity House for their kindness and caring treatment of Lynn.
Mass of Christian Burial will be held Tuesday, March 26, 2024, 11:00 a.m. at Queen of the Apostles Catholic Parish in Tomah. Monsignor David Kunz will officiate. Burial will be held in the St. Mary’s Catholic Cemetery, Tomah, Wisconsin. Family and friends are invited for visitation Monday, March 25, 2024, from 4:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m. with a rosary to begin at 4:00 p.m. at the Torkelson Funeral Home in Tomah. Family and friends are also invited for visitation Tuesday from 10:00 a.m. until the time of service at the church. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made in Lynn’s memory to Queen of the Apostles Church or the Serenity House. The Torkelson Funeral Home of Tomah is assisting the family with arrangements. Online condolences are available at www.torkelsonfuneralhome.com.
Torkelson Funeral Home
