Martin Baumer 1963 - 2025

Martin Baumer was a man of the sky.

Born in St. Gallen, Switzerland, to Elisabeth and Norbert Baumer, Martin was the eldest of three children. Martin had a passion for life: growing up, he learned to play guitar and piano, flew RC planes and raced mountain bikes in the Alps. In Martin’s later teen years, he and his uncle Roman traveled to the United States to take a bus tour of the lower West Coast and the Southwest. After his first visit to the U.S., Martin completed his mandatory military service in the Swiss military and an apprenticeship in electrical engineering. He began work at Leica, developing surveying equipment. At age 23, Martin returned to the United States to get his private pilot license, and while living as a foreign exchange student met his future wife, Traci Stonebridge, in McMinnville, Oregon. After a short courtship, Traci and Martin took a leap of faith and got engaged and then married, moving back to Switzerland in the late '80s through the 1990s.

Around 1995, Martin received a job offer from HP in Corvallis, and it seemed like the right opportunity to return to the U.S. and start their family. During this time, Martin continued his passion for the air by going on paragliding trips and beginning to work on his homebuilt GlaStar experimental passenger airplane. In July 1997, Martin and Traci welcomed their first child, Alexandra, and began their family. After a downsizing at HP, Martin went to work for a small private startup, Inovise Medical in Newberg, and the small family moved to Carlton. Soon, the family would grow: in August of 2000, they welcomed their son, Dylan, into the world.

They moved to the family farm of Jim Stonebridge and Kathleen Boeve in Carlton, Oregon. Martin settled in by turning the old pole barn into his plane hangar and work space. This work space also became a playground for his children; as he worked, they played and imagined all the places they would visit when the plane was finished. It took 10 years, and piece by piece, Martin assembled his plane, finishing the GlaStar, Bravo Sierra in the mid-2000s.

Dylan and Martin would share a special, almost intrinsic, bond over music. Martin’s passion and talent for guitar is shared deeply with Dylan and was the inspiration for Dylan to begin playing guitar himself. Alex was a horse-girl, and Martin spent countless hours driving her to shows and riding lessons. Martin was always ready to help, whether he had known them for years or just found them stranded on the side of the road. In his workshop, there was a plaque made for him that simply read, “If Martin cannot fix it, we’re screwed.” If Martin didn’t immediately know how to fix something, by the next time you saw him, he would have learned how to help.

In his mid-50s, Martin started a new passion: motorcycle racing. Like any good Swiss engineer, he learned everything he could to be the best motorcycle rider he could be on his KLR. Martin would meticulously plan and execute solo camping trips around the state of Oregon, being able to see much of the state in the last few years. He would always plan his routes on the most winding roads he could find, because he loved the challenge and grace required to do all the turns. In the last years, he had started kayaking and began planning trips with the same attention to detail he applied to every new project he undertook. Martin was always the man with the plan. He shared this new kayaking passion with his children and wife, taking them on small paddling adventures on the local rivers.

In mid-April, Martin became incredibly ill and was admitted to the medical ICU; after four short days, he passed away in the early hours of the day on April 15, 2025. He was cremated at Macy & Son Funeral Home, with his ashes to be spread by his family in Oregon and Switzerland.

In lieu of flowers, his family would like donations in his honor to be made to the Yamhill-Carlton Rocketry Club, either through Venmo (@YC-Rocketry) or directly to the club director, Jordan Slavish, via email (slavishj@ycschools.org).

Martin is survived by his wife, Traci Stonebridge-Baumer; his two kids, Alex and Dylan Baumer; his younger sisters, Monika and Sonja; and his mother, Elisabeth.

To leave condolences, visit www.macyandson.com.

A Celebration of Life will take place on Saturday, June 7th, from 1:00-3:00pm at the Bindery, 610 NE 4th Street, McMinnville, OR