Andrew "Bernie" Bernard Baumbach

About Andrew "Bernie" Bernard Baumbach

Andrew Bernard Baumbach Born March 6, 1911 in Washington D. C.  Died February 14, 1984, Burial, National Memorial Park Lee Hwy Falls Church, Va. Married Mary Spicer July 7, 1940. They had no children of their own, but raised Chuck McCauley.

Worked at Fire Dept?

Master Plumber?

Patents?

Did he invent an under sink water detector alarm?

Invented / designed an airbag that would inflate and cut off the flow of air in a buildings air duct system with it detected a fire. It was a hot oven cooking bag sealed with a CO2 cartridge inside. If the CO2 cartridge got hot, it would burst open and fill the heat resistant cooking bag with COS2, thus cutting off the air flow, to help prevent smoke and fire from spreading in a building. It was easy to installed, just toss in in an aire duct.

Invented / designed a home burglar alarm, a battery operated small black box that you would lean up against the door, if the door was opened, it would sound a very loud alarm.

Vicky Eckert Vivona shares her memories of Bernie and Mary 2023

Aunt Mary was born Mary Virginia Spicer in Culpepper, VA. She was short and had a loving, warm and fiery personality.  She was a boarder with Grandma Toombs according to the 1940 census so I assume that’s how she met Uncle Bernie. They were married in 1940. Aunt Mary loved Uncle Bernie. They were two peas in a pod.  I think they were soul mates.

After Grandma Toombs died, John “Spider” Toombs (Grandma Toombs husband) lived with them until he passed away. 

Aunt Mary was a good southern cook and wasn’t happy unless you ate three helpings of whatever she had cooked.  She loved playing poker card games (penny any), working in her vegetable garden, and reading gossip magazines.

Aunt Mary worked for a few years at a snack bar in a building at the corner of Columbia Pike and Carlin Springs Road.

She and Uncle Bernie always talked about how they loved going to Glen Echo Park in their younger years.  Every weekend they would go to Maryland and buy lottery tickets.

She and Uncle Bernie raised Chuck McCauley for a friend. I do know who his mother was but I do not know the circumstances of why they raised him. Aunt Mary and Uncle Bernie were good friends with Chuck’s mother.  They considered Chuck their son and his children as their grandchildren.

Aunt Mary would often visit her sister JoBelle who lived in South Arlington.  She also spoke often of a sister named Ruby.  I did go with Aunt Mary once to visit her sister Edna Burke.

Vicky Eckert Vivona shares her memories of Bernie 2024

Uncle Bernie was a fireman, inventor and the original family genealogist!  He told me he had been a volunteer firefighter with the Cherrydale Fire Department.  

As an inventor, he designed a burglar alarm that was a black box that was leaned up against a door and would trigger an alarm when the door was moved.

For genealogy, he would check out books from the library in his search for the Baumbach family in Germany and specifically was looking for the Baumbach castle in Germany.  I spent many hours reading through the books with Uncle Bernie.

Uncle Bernie was also passionate about learning about the civil war.  He was never interested in choosing either the Confederate or Union side but was equally interested in both sides. We took several trips out in the Virginia countryside stopping at EVERY SINGLE civil war informational sign so he could read about what happened at the spot or area. He liked to read and ponder about the particular battles.  He taught me how to recognize battle areas where particular style of fencings were built or where the appearance of long ditches occurred.

 Uncle Bernie loved playing cards, the lottery, and he loved Aunt Mary!  He liked jokes, pranks and Aunt Mary’s cooking too.

A fond memory was when he pranked me with some onion bread pudding that Aunt Mary had made.  He laughed and laughed at that prank!

Uncle Bernie loved his Pontiac Le Mans car and he would wear a leather jacket with a wool Irish style flat cap and his cane. He looked very dapper!

He and Aunt Mary raised a son who was not their biological son. He showed me pictures of taking Chuck to Colonial Beach. He loved Chuck very much!  

Uncle Bernie and Aunt Mary also took care of Uncle Bernie’s Step-Grandfather John “Spider” Toombs after his Grandma Toombs passed away.  “Spider” stayed with them until his death.

 Uncle Bernie was an honorable person who believed in doing the right thing.