Donna Bauman was never one to draw attention to herself, but preferred to quietly go about her business behind the scenes.
“She wasn’t real active at her church – she went and did her worship and came home – but she walked the walk,” said her daughter, Karen Molens, 58, of De Soto. “She lived the way she thought she should. She didn’t curse, she never talked about people. She just focused on what she needed to do to be a good wife and mother.
“I can’t imagine anybody who met her not liking her.”
Mrs. Bauman died June 19 at age 78 of complications from a brain aneurysm.
She and her late husband, George, ran a store in the Hillsboro area for many years.
Mrs. Bauman grew up in the Lead Belt and left school after the ninth grade.
While visiting her sister, Shelby, in Mapaville, Mrs. Bauman met her future husband. George Bauman was the son of local dairy farmers.
The two were married in early 1958 and the couple moved in with his parents on the farm.
Big changes came in 1959, after George’s father died.
“They sold the farm and moved to Crystal City,” Karen said. “My grandma came, too, and she lived with us until close to her death in 1993. It was kind of like having a second mom.”
Mrs. Bauman was a stay-at-home mother for her daughter and son while her husband went to work as a milk truck driver.
In 1963, the Zellsman store in Jarvis came up for sale. In a swap that served everyone’s needs, the Zellsman family bought the Bauman home in Crystal City and the Baumans became proud owners of the store.
“Our living quarters were on the top floor,” Karen said. “It was just an old country store.”
In 1968, the family moved to a home they built, and the store moved to a new, larger location in 1971.
Bauman’s Mercantile sold everything from farm supplies to foodstuffs.
“They had feed and grain, and my dad would haul cattle and fertilizer and coal for the farmers,” Karen said. “People could run in and get weekly groceries, grab milk or this and that. On Sunday afternoons, sometimes, the old-timers would come by and sit on some dog food sacks and just visit. And I’ve had so many people tell me their childhood memories of riding their bikes to the store to get candy.”
Mrs. Bauman divided her time between the store and the home.
“Mom was a fixture in the store, but she was always there for us kids, first and foremost,” Karen said. “We were always all together. My brother and I worked in the store when we got big enough.”
The family attended Zion Lutheran Church, less than five minutes away.
“We would take family trips, and Grandma would watch the store,” Karen said. “We’d go to places like Hot Springs, Ark., just road trips to see different things. After they retired in 1999, they began going to Florida, took some trips out West.”
The Baumans developed some acreage adjacent to the store into apartments and duplexes.
“If somebody was moving in or out, my mom would be in there, cleaning,” Karen said.
The family also ran auctions.
“Dad went to school to be an auctioneer after he retired,” Karen said. “He would auctioneer, my brother would do setup, I did tickets and cash and my mom ran the concessions. They did that about five or six years after retirement.”
In 2003, Mrs. Bauman helped her husband recover from heart surgery by accompanying him to rehab every weekday, and it became something of a habit.
“I think it was a kind of a social thing as well as a health thing,” Karen said.
After her husband died in 2015, Mrs. Bauman continued her health regimen.
“She was not a complainer, but you could certainly tell she missed him,” Karen said. “But her health was very good; she was watching her diet and the doctors had her on medication for blood pressure.”
Then, in April, a routine check showed a sudden, sharp rise in her blood pressure.
“They adjusted her meds and she was starting to feel better,” Karen said. “Then, the day after Memorial Day, she thought she was having a heart attack.”
It turned out to be a brain aneurysm, and she underwent a five-hour surgery to repair it.
“As the week went on, she developed infection, had a lot of complications,” Karen said. “The doctors told us her quality of life would be compromised, and my brother and I knew being on machines was not what she wanted. So, we moved her to hospice down here and she went peacefully.”
Karen said she has only one regret when it comes to her mother.
“It’s a shame neither my brother or I had kids,” she said. “She would have been a wonderful grandmother.”
Karen said her parents enjoyed knowing so many people in the community.
“They’d walk into Walmart and it was like social hour,” she said with a laugh. “They were hardworking people who raised us kids and tried to do what was right.”
She said it is fitting that her parents lie side by side in Zion Cemetery.
“It’s right there, where they lived and worked,” Karen said. “I find it comforting to know they’re close to home.”
“Life Story,” posted Saturdays on Leader Publications’ website, focuses on one individual’s impact on his or her community.