Paul Baumgartner

Paul Lloyd Baumgartner, 92, passed away Wednesday, January 13, 2021, seven months after his beloved wife. He was born February 21, 1929, in Berne, the youngest child of Grover and Rose (Fankhauser) Baumgartner.
He was married January 30, 1955, to Helen Bilhorn.
He earned his bachelor of music degree from Heidelberg University in Tiffin, Ohio and was doing graduate study at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, when Uncle Sam called him to serve in Korea as a chaplain’s assistant. He resumed studies at Eastman where he met his wife.  
Upon graduation, they were appointed as short-term missionary teachers at Miyagi College for Women in Sendai, Japan. In 1958, they started work toward doctoral degrees in piano performance at Indiana University. He finished his at the University of Arizona in 1974. After teaching at the University of Wisconsin in Stevens Point and Chowan College in Murfreesboro, North Carolina, he accepted a faculty position at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota in 1964, where he taught until 1991. For several decades the Baumgartners concertized together as a four-hand piano duet team throughout the country and around the world. They played many benefit recitals for the Global Mission Institute at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota, where graduate students from overseas train for service in their home countries.
He is survived by five children, Pr. Mary Lou Baumgartner of New Windsor, New York; Pr. Carol Baumgartner (Pr. Michael Mueller) of Janesville, Wisconsin; Dorothy Baumgartner (Pr. Mikkel Hustad) of Clinton, Washington; John Baumgartner (Peter Kleinlein) of New York City, New York; and Tom Baumgartner of St. Peter, Minnesota; eight grandchildren, Irene Mineoi (Rachid Amrani); Yuki Mineoi; Maya Mineoi; Peter Mueller (fiancée Jackie Maier); Emma Mueller (Ronan Rogers); Rachel Mueller; Kari Hustad; and Annika Hustad; two great-grandchildren, Iman and Youssef Amrani; and brother-in-law, David Bilhorn of Portland, Oregon.
In-person services will be scheduled at First Lutheran Church St. Peter at a later date. Burial will be at Resurrection Cemetery.
Memorials may be made to First Lutheran Church or Gustavus Adolphus College.
Arrangements provided by St. Peter Funeral Home in St. Peter, Minnesota.