“Do you want cream in your coffee, honey?” Lois Spurr asked Ernie Baumann in June 1966. And with that, the two fell head over heels in love.
“Oh my, he was so handsome,” said Lois. “He co-owned a bookstore near the mom-and-pop restaurant where I was waitressing and came in one day. We fell in love immediately — I just knew that we would get married.”
Which they did—just months after meeting. However, the wedding was delayed by an epic blizzard on Jan. 26, 1967 that dumped a record-breaking 23 inches of snow in the Chicago area. According to Lois, instead of getting married, the couple went outside and played in the snow like kids. They finally tied the knot at First Congregational Church in Maywood a week later.
The Baumanns soon became pillars in the Maywood community, founding Maywood Fine Arts, a beacon of hope and a hive of activity to generations of children in the near west suburbs and Chicago’s Austin neighborhood. The community is now mourning the Dec. 28 death of Mr. Ernie, as he was affectionately known by pretty much everyone who knew him.
Born on April 9, 1939, Ernie was adopted and raised by a family in Western Springs. Shortly after graduating from Lyons Township High School, where he was a star on the gymnastics team, he joined the Navy. Following his engagement, he took a job as a house parent at a Lutheran children’s home in Maywood.
“He just loved children and they loved him,” said Lois. “He used to take the boys at the home on camping trips throughout the Midwest in a Volkswagen bus. He was so much fun and just couldn’t get enough of playing with kids.”
For several years, Ernie and Lois worked with the Maywood Recreation Department, eventually coordinating a full-fledged popular arts program for kids. They parted company with the department when it planned to raise fees, which they felt would prevent some children from participating.
Determined to stay and raise their six children in Maywood, which was reeling from “white flight” and economic disinvestment, the Baumanns leased space in the former Maywood Opera House (AKA the Bronco Building) on Fifth Avenue for Lois’ Stairway of the Stars dance program and rented several local storefronts for Mr. Ernie’s thriving Flip, Flop and Fly tumbling program.
“Stairway of the Stars was named for the 44 stairs children climbed to the third-floor ballroom. The name says a lot about Lois and Ernie’s priorities—the kids were truly the stars. They’re all about the kids,” said Katherine Bus, executive director of Maywood Fine Arts and a former participant of the dance program.
In 1996, the Baumanns bought a former bank building at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Lake Street with a lien against their home and a loan from a friend. The building now houses the tumbling program as well as music and art classes.
Facing financial challenges, the Baumanns were encouraged to create a 501(c)3 nonprofit, so they could secure grants and donations to keep their programming going. Maywood Fine Arts (MFA) was formed in 1996.
“We had never asked anyone for help — and no one offered it. We were happy but financially struggling,” said Lois.
In a tragic turn, the Bronco Building burned to the ground in 2010, two weeks before MFA was scheduled to buy the building. The nonprofit launched an extensive campaign to raise enough funds to build a new facility on the site.
“We were crazy,” said Lois. “We couldn’t even rub two nickels together. We just flew by the seats of our pants. We couldn’t even put together a capital campaign leadership team — 62 consultants rejected us because they thought we would fail.”
But, over five years, the campaign raised $2 million, including a $300,000 State of Illinois grant shepherded by State Sen. Kimberly Lightford and State Rep. Emmanuel “Chris” Welch, a former next-door neighbor and personal friend of the Baumanns. Children joined the effort by collecting more than $13,000, mostly in pennies. John Prine, the multiple Grammy Award winning singer/songwriter and a former Maywood resident, headlined a benefit concert.
Like the proverbial phoenix from the ashes, in 2016 MFA opened a beautiful, light-filled building, which now houses Lois’ Stairway of the Stars dance program as well as drama, karate and adult fitness classes.
According to Bus, Ernie was the creative genius behind the scenes, always stretching dollars by taking care of the facilities himself, building sets, creating a ballet barre out of PVC pipe and more.
“I called him ‘Glitter Man’ because he was always adding more and more glitter to everything. He always made a fashion statement with his dapper suits when ushering during the shows — and he loved his berets,” Bus said.
But according to many, Mr. Ernie’s true gift was his laser-focused attention on kids, each of whom he made feel special.
“I have a vivid memory of Mr. Ernie coaching my daughter’s first competitive floor performance. He saw something in her that even I didn’t see. He pushed kids to their greatest level and made them believe they could do anything,” said Katina Neal Turner, a current MFA board member.
In a post on his Facebook page, Speaker of the House Welch wrote, [The Baumanns’] belief in young people in this community never wavered. … they taught, inspired and mentored generations of young people. My heartfelt condolences go out to Lois, the entire Baumann family and everyone whose life was touched by Ernie’s generosity and passion. His legacy will live on through the countless lives he helped shape.
“I ask myself sometimes, how did we do this? It really was a miracle. Ernie made such an impact on so many kids. There was so much laughter and fun. We have been blessed by every kid and their families. We were the luckiest, richest people in town,” Lois said.
Ernie and Lois’ family now includes a dozen grandkids as well as their six children. According to Katina Neal Turner, their love for each other was evident to everyone who knew them.
“They had a love story all of us would hope for,” she said.
Just a couple weeks before his death, Lois and Ernie and several members of their large. boisterous family boarded a train to Elburn for Christmas dinner at her niece’s home. They managed to make even a mundane train ride a party. Lois and Ernie had to sit on opposite sides of the top level—but, according to Lois, they still managed to reach across the aisle to hold hands.
