Theodore Baehr,Jr.

A man of great curiosity and deep thought, Ted quietly loved the spotlight. He reached his first moment there early, born on January 1, 1940, the first day of the new year and the new decade, in Holland, Pennsylvania, where his parents, Theodore Sr. and Millie (Millimento Ketchum Dryden) operated a farm, growing tomatoes for the Campbell’s Soup Company on land owned by Millie’s godmother Millimento Waldron Ketchum, a Philadelphia philanthropist best known for her work as director of the Kensington Neighborhood House.  Theodore, Sr came to the U.S. from Rothfliess, Germany (now Poland); Millie was a native of Philadelphia. Ted spent his first decade growing up in Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood, near Millie’s parents. During WWII, Ted’s entire family worked in the war effort, including his mother Millie (Budd Defense Co’s Red Lion Plant) and grandmother Agnes (a U.S. bell inspector). They also went to the movies every Saturday, where Ted developed a lifelong love of film. John Wayne’s Red River (1948) instantly became—and remained—his all-time favorite movie.  During the war, Theodore, Sr. read an ad for a farm near the village of Esperance, New York. He traveled up by train and bought it, practically sight unseen. The family moved there permanently in 1953. Rural living was a sea change for a city child. Ted graduated from nearby Schoharie Central High School in 1957, where he was a member of the soccer team and a senior class officer. Though life took him far away, Ted returned to Esperance for many class reunions. Ted majored in electrical engineering at Mohawk Valley Technical College in Utica, survived being snowbound during the Blizzard of 1958, and graduated in 1959. From 1959 to 1963, he served in the U.S. Air Force, as a weapons control systems mechanic with the 57 th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron at Paine Field near Seattle, followed by time with the Air Force Reserve and Idaho Air National Guard, attached to the 124 th Fighter Wing at Boise. During this time, Ted studied history at Boise State College (1971), then obtained a master’s degree in social science from the University of Idaho at Moscow (1972).  In 1972, Ted came to Knoxville to attend the University of Tennessee, driving cross- country in his beloved one-owner, Bahama blue 1964 Volkswagen Beetle. Studying history under Dr. Leroy Graff, he served as a teaching assistant for Dr. Bruce Wheeler and worked on a doctoral dissertation about Tennessee politician John Eaton, who is best remembered as Andrew Jackson’s secretary of war; Florida’s territorial governor; and Peggy O’Neill Eaton’s husband.  The Beetle (serial #745000) was stolen from a downtown parking garage on July 8, 1982. The mystery of its fate remains. After so much time together, Ted felt that that no other Beetle could adequately replace it. He would never own another Beetle again.  Ted joined the staff of the Knox County Public Library’s Calvin M. McClung Historical Collection in 1977, where, with his trademark white shirt and suspenders, he became a fixture for the next forty-five years. At the library, Ted’s first moment in the spotlight again came early. During Christmas 1978, the East Tennessee Historical Society published attorney Ray Jenkins’ memoir Terror of Tellico Plains, and when one of Jenkins’ clients called to order a case of books to give as holiday gifts to her customers, Ted was assigned to deliver them. It was only afterward that he learned that client (Hazel Davidson) was best known to Knoxvillians as the town’s most famous—and infamous—self-identified “playgirl” and literal madam.  Ted was preceded in death by his grandparents, Caleb and Zelda Agnes Kathryn Graham Dryden of Philadelphia and Michael and Ottilie Waleschkowski Baehr of Rothfliess; his parents Theodore Sr. and Millimento Dryden Baehr of Esperance, and his beloved friend Rebecca Lynn Crawford of Knoxville.  Ted is survived by his nephew and nieces Michael Theodore Baehr, Jennifer Baehr-Marcucci (Ed), Lisa Mooney (Robert); great-nieces Gabriella and Arianna Marcucci; Nicole Mooney Schiavo (John); and Brianna, Kayleigh, and Olivia Baehr, Liliana and Aubrey Schiavo, and Lylah Grant; and many devoted colleagues and friends, including Eric Head (Jen), Vicky Bills (Jeff), Simone Hamak, Alex & Karen Lane, Maria Mooring (Scott), Danette Welch (Jason), Tom Shuman (Sande), Kipper Evans (Sarah), and many, many more.  Ted will be buried in the Esperance Cemetery, Esperance, New York.  Condolences may be expressed at www.mynattfh.com.