Samuel’s Obituary Samuel Jordan Baethge was born to Alvin and Augusta (Jordan) Baethge in Tulsa, Oklahoma on November 11, 1939. As World War II broke out, the family moved to San Diego, California where Sam’s Dad worked at the U.S. Naval Base. Eventually they moved to Fredericksburg, Texas where Sam grew up on the family ranch.
Stumbling over rocks (there weren’t any rocks in San Diego to trip over), getting kicked by horses, and rounding up goats for hours on end without a water break, were not Sam’s favorite memories from his childhood. Playing flag football with his cousins, discussing trigonometric equations with his Dad, and playing with his favorite dog, Trixie, were the best of his childhood memories. Sam graduated from Fredericksburg High School and was valedictorian of his class of 1958.
During his high school years he participated in FFA competitions and made it all the way to Kansas City for the national finals. His team won 1st place in national meat judging. Sam graduated from Texas Lutheran College with a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and English.
In 1962, Sam married Edwina Rockman, in Dallas, TX. After a tour in the United States Air Force, Sam and Edwina moved to Fredericksburg to operate the family ranch. It was then that Sam’s reputation as a math wiz in high school got him a call from the nuns running St. Mary’s H.S. when their young math teacher had to leave on maternity leave.
Sam was so nervous he couldn’t eat breakfast for the first 2 years of teaching at St. Mary’s High School. Sam also coached the freshmen football team at St. Mary’s and was undefeated – he then retired from football coaching. Both Sam and Edwina’s daughters were born in Fredericksburg.
Later they moved to San Antonio to allow Edwina to finish her bachelor’s degree where Sam taught math and sometimes physics in several high schools (Highlands, Southside, Southwest, Alamo Heights, Clark, Southwest, Clark). Mr. Baethge had a knack for finding students who had an aptitude and/or a desire to compete in mathematics competitions. At any given high school, no matter what the socio-economic status of the student body was, Mr. Baethge’s teams consistently placed in the top five at contests that drew teams from across the state.
Even if Sam had to pick his top 3 students and load them into a red Ford Pinto (held together with bailing wire), he would get students to contests and help them develop their math acumen and an impressive resume for college applications. Sam retired after a number of years teaching at the Science Academy in Austin, Texas. He continued to coach mathematics to gifted students and wrote questions for the American Invitational Mathematics Exam and MATHCOUNTS.
He took American math teams to international math competitions in Russia and China and many U.S. cities. Sam’s love of the country and a need to keep the family ranch going frequently brought him to Fredericksburg on weekends, spring breaks and throughout the summer months. Sam’s love of fast pitch softball also brought him out to the fields at LBJ Park twice a week in the spring to play on the Bethany Lutheran team.
On Tuesday nights he would go after school and drive back to San Antonio after the game. On occasion he would even participate in slow pitch tournaments. “The Silver Fox” could play just about any position, but 3rd base and catching were his two most common ones.
Sam was particularly proud of the small trophy he earned on his final Bethany team. The league had shrunk, so Bethany fielded two teams that season. The championship game was played between the youth-stacked Bethany team vs.
the ‘old players’ team that Sam was put on. Experience prevailed! Their two daughters, Kathy and Barbara, both of whom loved the country, got to learn everything from hauling hay to building fences from their beloved Dad.
And Barbara learned deer hunting too. Sam, Kathy and Barbara spent a lot of time at the ranch house while Edwina worked on her degree in San Antonio. Sam taught the girls that pretty much every main dish could be improved if it was cooked with catsup or red wine.
The three of them also had a marathon pinochle card game that lasted the entire summer. This is what they did for entertainment … there was no TV at the ranch after sun-down – no station’s signal was strong enough. Sam’s earthly life ended at Central Texas Medical Center in San Marcos, TX on March 8, 2019 at the age of 79.
Sam is already greatly missed, but his loving legacy of kindness, caring, and teaching will live on in those left behind. His faith in God was strong and he loved Jesus. Sam is survived by his wife of 56 years, Edwina Baethge, San Marcos; daughter Barbara Cassin and her husband Robert Cassin, Jr., Middletown, NJ; brother Jonathan Baethge and his wife Carol, Fredericksburg, TX; sister-in-law Judith Rockman, Austin, TX; grandchildren Theresa Carnes, Robert Cassin III, and Allie Cassin.
; a niece, nephews, cousins, and one great-granddaughter. Preceding him in death were his daughter Kathryn Carnes, his son-in-law Richard Carnes, and his parents. A memorial service with a celebration of Sam’s life will take place on Saturday, March 30, 2019, 1:00 pm at First Lutheran Church, San Marcos, TX, with Pastor Tim Bauerkemper officiating.
The family will greet friends and relatives from 5 to 7:00 pm on Friday, March 29 at the Pennington Funeral Home, San Marcos and after the service on Saturday at First Lutheran, 130 W. Holland St., San Marcos. In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial contributions be made to: “Texas Mathematics League” 12328 Cardinal Flower Dr., Austin, TX 78739; First Lutheran Church; or to the charity of your choice. Private internment of ashes at the Greenwood Cemetery, Fredericksburg will occur at a later date.
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