Autobiography William James Baumbach II
This was done at the request of Kena Shriners, to be published in the Kenagram
Autobiography William James Baumbach II
This was created for a Kena Shriners publication, so I am just using it as my Autobiography.
Nobel William J. Baumbach II grew up in Arlington, Va. on N. 15th St, he would ride his bicycle about six blocks to his father’s plumbing shop after elementary school where he road on the trucks with plumbers and learned the plumbing trade first hand. His father William J. Baumbach and his Uncle Charles H. Baumbach where both charter members of Kena in 1951, his father was member #60 and his Uncle Charles was #59. William moved with his family to Fairfax Station in the early 1970’s. In 1994, 43 years after his father, William walked the Hot Sands, member #7,008. He became a Life Member at Kena that same year. Nobel Preston Burner at the time was president of the Kena Computer Club which he founded, and also managed Kena’s first computer. Preston was good friends with William’s father and took William under his wings and in 1996 William took over the Presidency of the Kena Computer Club. William has followed in the footsteps of Preston in keeping Kena running in the computer age. For over a decade William has provided all the computer services Kena has needed which have grown to six computers. He is currently one of the Potentates photographers, a member of the Mule Skinners Club and Kena’s webmaster.
Born into the Plumbing and HVAC trades, William dropped out of high school in 9th grade to work in his father’s plumbing business, and eventually he took over the business. He wanted to buy a computer for the business in 1989 but his mother Beryl would not let him do so unless he promised to be able to fix it when it broke, so he brought several books on computers, and read them over and over, he then convinced his mother he could fix a computer. She agreed to buy one and the first thing William did was to purposely break it and then fix it to prove to his mother he could indeed fix it. This is how William became a self-taught computer geek. William then decided he wanted to pursue a computer career and left the family plumbing business for his brother Andy to run.
William was raised in Acacia Lodge No. 16 Clifton, Va. in 1994 and became a LMIP (Life Member in Perpetuity) the same year. In 2006 he affiliated with Cochran Lodge No. 271 The Plains, Va. His other Masonic affiliations include Royal Arch, Knight Templar and the Scottish Rite.
Having Plumbing and HVAC expertise, picking up amateur photography from his father and with his self-taught computer skills, William has volunteered his services for the past 13 years to area Lodges, Masons and Widows alike. Over the years his has help several Lodges with not only their plumbing and HVAC needs but has been known to take a few pictures from time to time and more often than not shares these pictures on the Internet with the Masonic community in less than 24 hours of having taken them.
Nobel Jack Canard started the Virginia Masonic Information Net website and the AW22 email list server at http://aw22.com Jack is a groundbreaking pioneer in sharing Masonic information and communications over the Internet as was Preston before him in the pre-Internet days with his BBS system. For over 10 years William has worked with Jack by providing Internet services he has needed for the AW22 list server. For the same period of time William has been the webmaster of the Kena website http://www.kena.org and made possible by Preston, hosts and maintains the World Largest collection of Masonic files at http://www.kena.org/Hirams that were moved over from his BBS. William also volunteers his services as webmaster for about a half-dozen other Lodges and is real busy near the end of the month posting new Trestleboard’s to the various websites. He is currently, in his spare time working with the Grand Lodge of Virginia Internet Committee to help improve the websites of other Lodges and the Grand Lodge website.
William documented the historic Masonic event that took place on December 31, 2006, when Masons went to Washington DC., to honor a fallen Brother, former President Gerald R. Ford who was the last President to be a Mason laid down his working tools. A group picture of all the Brothers was taken in front of the U.S. Capitol by William; His pictures can be viewed at http://www.acacia16.org/Honoring_Brother_Gerald_R_Ford.htm. To help assure that generations from now, historians and others interested in Masonry and in President Ford's place in American history in known, over the past year he has been presenting 11x14” wood framed copies of the group picture. To date, he has traveled to dozens of Lodges and presented it to others in the Masonic Fraternity, near 40 all together, with many more presentations expected over the next year.
Copy of old email below…
Acacia Lodge No. 16 Life Member since 1994, past JW and SW, Building Committee, blood coordinator.
Webmaster, means I host, setup, design, handle emails all for free Acacia Lodge No. 16 Webmaster Hay Market Lodge No. 313 Webmaster Land Sea And Air Lodge No. 1 Located in Iraq, Webmaster Kena Shriner, Webmaster since 1987 Ashburn Lodge #288 webmaster The Masonic Benefit Fund, webmaster
Acacia Lodge No. 16 and Cochran Lodge No. 271 get plumbing / HVAC work from me, free labor and sometimes parts.
MEMBERSHIPS
Cochran Lodge No. 271 since 06-2006
The Masonic Benefit Fund
York Rite Mason
Royal Arch
Knights Templar
Scottish Rite
Loyal Order of Moose
For many of the above I am a life sponsor and or other things, too many to list or I have forgotten about.
Kena Shriner, Life Member since 1994,
Kena Shriner, since 1996 President of The Kena Computer Club, now inactive.
Kena Shriner, in 2007 I will be one of the Potentates aids
Kena Shriner, gets all their computer labor for free from me and some software at no cost.
I have provided free computer services for many Mason's and Shriners. Plumbing and HVAC too. I also do other stuff. Recently I helped with a Flag Pole for Bro. Selma Corder who wanted to fly his flag this past July 4th. Back in August 2005 for Bro. Charles Martin who is in Iraq I drove to Lorton and fixed the computer for his wife Larisa. Computer services have been given too many, Jim Kincheloe, Tom Loftis(recorder at Kena), Luis Pages, Etc, and others you do not know. I stopped by RW. Ed Ray's house a few weeks ago and fixed his ridding lawn mower's. This is all from memory; I really do not track all of this, and ask for nothing in return. There is more, I just do not remember. Some tip me if and when they can, Acacia just received a check for $50 from a Kena member Widow that was sent to me impart of this.
Past president NVPHCC Northern Virginia Plumbing, Heating, Cooling Contractors Association, 1996 & 1997, I was recognized for being editor and publisher of the best of all local monthly news letters out of the entire US. This was all free work to help and improve the heath and etc, of the industry.
I own Baumbach Enterprises Ltd, I have done free plumbing and HVAC for the poor.
In 1992 when hurricane Andrew hit Florida I brought a travel trailer drove down there and lived there on a Salvation Army based and volunteered my services free of charge to help the victims, free plumbing and A/C work, and other. Dade County made me a temporary City employee so I could leave and enter the town while under Marshall Law. This was an experience!
I helped to feed food to the homeless / poor in DC one year for Thanksgiving.
With my fathers plumbing company installed a new kitchen in the now gone old Clifton Fire Department meeting hall for the Clifton's Woman's Club, free of charge.
Helped with my mother the Clifton's Woman's Club / Friends of Fairfax Station raise money to build the Fairfax Station Railroad museum now there.
I really cannot remember all this stuff, I moved not long ago and packed all this info in boxes, thinking.....
You know, now you got me thinking, it seems I do more volunteer work for free then I do paid for work, at my hourly rate I could have been a well-off person by now. :-)
NO, Masonic Home, Widows and orphans, Youth, Church, not that I can remember.
I have helped Masonic Widows with computers and other stuff,, like, Preston's wife Freda Burner, and others I do not remember.
I do a lot of free Picture taking for Kena, Acacia, etc. I did some the other day for the Clifton Town Council too.
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From: Preston@Kena.org [mailto:Preston@Kena.org]
Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 9:05 PM
To: William@Baumbach.com; Jack Canard
Subject: Re: Baumbach Masonic Bio
Thank you so much, William, for sending a copy of your Masonic Bio to me. I
would like to add that Preston was very fond of you and thought of you as
his son. He was so happy when you took over the Kena Computer Club because
it meant so much to him. You were wonderful to him, particularly when he
became ill. You have been wonderful to me assisting me with any and all
computer problems that I have had. If it were not for you I never would
have been able to use a computer. What more can I say but THANK YOU THANK
YOU.
I tried to send this to Ruth also but could not. Would you please forward
it to her because I want her to know how much I think of you. Freda
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From: Ruth [mailto:Ruth@kena.org]
Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 8:54 AM
To: William@Baumbach.com
Subject: Re: Baumbach Masonic Bio
William,
Thank you so-o-o much. I wish I were allocated three pages of space in the Kenagram just for your bio.
I will do my best to select the most important aspects of your life. You surpass all I have ever known
in the act of volunteering for the benefit of others!!! You are right -- you could have been rich!
Ruth
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From: Ruth [mailto:Ruth@kena.org]
Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 4:01 PM
To: William@Baumbach.com
Subject: Re: Baumbach Masonic Bio
William,
I respect your wishes, and do understand your request. I will do my best.
Those of us at Kena do know how good you are; we knew it long before you put it in writing. We just didn't know the specifics, so we had to ask you. Many of the things you mentioned, Tom had already given to me in a rather broad-brush coverage. I just needed some numbers and some specifics.
Please recognize that I could not write a bio about you and reflect anything other than the fact that you are a gifted, giving and highly unusual individual. It will be written from the perspective of Ill. Jim -- and he feels just as strongly about you as I do. In no way will people think that you are bragging about yourself.
Ruth