Bauman lives almost a century in county

Sitting at his dining room table, the one his mother fed him at when he was a baby, Warren Bauman described what it was like growing up in Bonners Ferry.

Bauman will celebrate his 90th birthday on Friday, and was born  in 1921 and raised in the community.

As a young man Bauman went to school and graduated from Bonners Ferry High School in 1939.

He worked on his family’s farm helping grow and cultivate wheat, peas, oats and hay.

The family sold the peas as seeds to a seed company in Spokane for years.

“I also milked 25 cows two times a day,” Bauman said.  “Not sure a lot of the kids these days know about that kind of hard work.”

The milk would be picked up three times a week in a tanker that delivered the milk to Dairy Gold in Spokane.  They also sold milk to the local creamery.

Bauman can look out the back of his picture window in his home in Sunrise Trailer Court and see clear across to Myrtle Falls.  As he told his story he glared out the window as if he was remembering what it looked like back then, as he lived on this very spot since he was born.

The house he lives in still has the foundation of a barn which stood it its very spot when Bauman was a youngster.

Bauman said that he grew up during the depression so things were hard back then but everyone worked odd jobs and did things around the community to help each other out.

As a young man Bauman became the first Farm Bureau Insurance agent in Boundary County and then eventually started the organization in Bonner and Kootenai counties as well.

“He was the first president of the farm bureaus in north Idaho,” said his wife of 31 years Dottie Bauman.  “He helped a lot of people up here.”

Dottie Bauman said the two of them used to dance and dance.  They both had a love of ball room dancing and went all over the country dancing until they couldn’t anymore.

“We did the rumba, samba, and fox trot, we just loved it,” said Dottie Bauman.

Bauman took on the role of step father for Dottie’s children when they married.  Two boys and three girls.

It is these children who decided they wanted to do something special for Bauman’s 90th birthday.  They are having a party with 40 people or more to visit and later for dinner.

“They love him and appreciate him so much they wanted to have a big celebration for him, “ said Dottie Bauman. “They want to go to the moon.”