Tom Baughman was the firefighter every rookie wanted to ride with and every veteran wanted inside the building: 38½ years on the rescue squad, the longest tenure in Galesburg Fire Department history, the mentor who broke in generations of new firefighters, and the shift cook who could turn spaghetti and Polish sausage into the best meal you ever had — provided nobody made him wash the pots afterward.
Baughman — “Baughie” to everyone who ever worked with him — died unexpectedly Saturday at his home. He was 74, one day shy of the seventh anniversary of a retirement he never fully embraced. A scanner stayed on beside his living-room chair so he could follow every call right up to the end.
“He was a fireman’s fireman,” Deputy Chief Brock Schmitt said Wednesday.
“Hundreds of us ran our very first call with Baughie. He loved this job, this town, and every person in it more than anyone I’ve ever known.” — Deputy Chief Brock Schmitt
A lifelong Galesburg native, Baughman graduated from Galesburg High School in 1969 and served in the U.S. Army from 1971 to 1979. He joined the GFD in the mid-1970s and spent his entire career on the rescue squad. In 1996 he married Julie A. Pinkham; the two shared 29 years together. He was a devoted husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, die-hard Cubs and Bears fan, and a regular at “noon ball” basketball at Carl Sandburg College.
The Firefighter Everyone Wanted on Their Crew
Retired firefighter Randy Fox, who worked with Baughman from 1976 to 2005, posted a tribute on Facebook:
“Tom Baughman (Baughie to many of us) was the result of a wish list that most every firefighter would make if they wanted to create their ideal guy to go into a fire with… We would want a guy that would have no fear of going in first… the last man to come out… the anchor of the firehouse… We would want to create a Tom Baughman. Galesburg, and the entire firefighting community lost an amazing man and we will all be the poorer for it. Fly high, brother.” — Randy Fox
John Ring, who worked the same shift for 25 years, called him “relentless on the fireground” and told the story of the crash at Broad and Fremont: Baughman’s rescue truck wrecked en route to a fire, yet he was already treating the other driver while his own injuries went unchecked.
“That’s the way he was,” Ring said. “If there was a problem, he would attack it and do it. The best compliment I could give Tom is I’d fight a fire with him anytime, anywhere. He personified the mission statement of saving lives and protecting property.”
“The best compliment I could give Tom is I’d fight a fire with him anytime, anywhere.” — John Ring
Dan Simmons, a first-shift partner from 1984 to 2008 — mostly out of the old house on Maple Avenue and then Fremont Street — called Baughie “without a doubt one of, if not the best firefighter/EMT I ever worked with — but more than that, he was a good friend.” The two bonded over biking to work, playing city-league basketball, riding the rescue squad together, fighting fires side by side, mourning the loss of fellow firefighters, and sharing countless laughs. They even took a road trip to Chicago for a Bulls-Celtics game.
“Tommy could cook,” Simmons remembered. “He and Mike Wilder were the cooking team — spaghetti with Polish sausage sauce and garlic bread was legendary. And there was a rule Baughie loved: the cooks did NOT clean up the pots and pans — they only cooked, and they didn’t worry about the mess they made either.”
Simmons recently dedicated a song he’d written years earlier about firefighters to Baughman, along with two other first-shift brothers who have passed — Mike Wilder and Greg Nolta. Their last encounter came just over a week ago at Walmart, where Baughman was grabbing groceries for supper. “We talked and laughed for a few moments… I remember saying ‘love ya brother’ when we parted, and then it was a mutual ‘see ya.’ That was it,” Simmons said.
The Man Who Talked to Everybody
Baughman’s gift for talking to anyone, anywhere became local legend. Schmitt laughed about strangers who spent 45 minutes chatting with Baughie in the Aldi parking lot. “You’d be hard-pressed to walk into any building in this town and find someone who didn’t know exactly who he was,” Schmitt said.
His 38½ years on the job — nearly two full careers — remains the department record. Most firefighters retire around the 25-year mark.
A Firefighter’s Final Ride
Baughman is survived by his wife of 29 years, Julie A. Pinkham Baughman, and his five children, nine grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren. Read the full obituary here.
The Galesburg Fire Department is giving Baughie the send-off he earned. Visitation is 5–7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 5, at Hinchliff-Pearson-West Galesburg Chapel. Funeral services are at 10 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 6, at the same location, with Chaplain Glen Bocox officiating and full military honors provided by the Knox County Honor Guard.
Following the service, his casket will ride to Oak Lawn Memorial Gardens aboard a vintage fire truck on loan from Templeton Roofing. GFD apparatus and engines from surrounding departments will escort the procession, while aerial ladders raise a large American flag along the route — a final salute to a man whose passion for the job never faded.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Galesburg Fire Department, St. Jude Children’s Hospital, or the charity of the donor’s choice.
When Baughie gets to the Pearly Gates, Randy Fox wrote, St. Peter will probably just smile and say, “Here comes that Baughman guy.”