Leonard “Tank” William Baughman, born Jan 26, 1950, Somerset, PA, died at Lynchburg General Hospital on Nov 1, 2019. He was the son of Harry and Olive Baughman. He is survived by his wife of 50 years, Susan Livingston Baughman, his brother, James Baughman (Colorado), his son Mark Baughman, Lynchburg, VA, his daughter, Lisa M. Ladner (Buddy), Pass Christian, MS, five grandsons, Colby Clark, Drake Baughman, Ian Baughman, Byron Ladner, and Hunter Ladner, as well as numerous well-loved nieces and nephews.
Preceded in death by parents and his sisters, Beverly Morley and Audrey Radabaugh.
Tank served in the USAF for 20 years and continued as a Civil Servant for 6. During his time in service, he worked as a Grand Radio Repairman at radar sites in Montana and Pennsylvania. Tank was also assigned to the Electronics Security Command while at Clark AB, Philippines and continued in this command at Goodfellow AFB, San Angelo, TX where he worked under the guidance of the National Security Agency. At Goodfellow, Tank found his calling as an instructor and taught there and at Keesler AFB, MS for a total of 19 years. After leaving active duty, Tank obtained double Masters degrees from the University of Southern Mississippi. In 1995, Tank was awarded the honor of Top Civilian Instructor for both Keesler AFB and the entire USAF Air Training Command.
In later 1995, Tank came to work for Ericsson Radio (now L3Harris), continuing his love of teaching until 2015 where he left the company due to medical issues. Tank had a booming voice that carried down hallways and through closed doors. Everyone knew when he was in front of a class.
Although Tank disliked social gatherings, he never met a stranger. Many of his encounters mad for great stories such as a change meeting with multi-lingual 6-year-old in Beijing and his chance meeting with some “ladies” in both Vegas and New York who unbeknownst to him were trying to ply their trade. Or the homeless man that he escorted into a hotel to get the free breakfast that Tank had passed up. Or the time in Montreal when he got a ticket for a right turn on red and those same two policewomen were the ones who took his report the next day when his car was stolen from the hotel parking lot. Although he was not Superman, he did use a telephone booth to dress in a Santa suit on numerous occasions.
Tank’s love of Diet Dr. Pepper was known to most people, but not everyone got to hear his Dr. Pepper joke. It was a joke that he had perfected and could stretch to 30 minutes. It lost some of its impact when the Dr. Pepper jingle changed and the younger people did not recognized the punch line. But he had siblings or even children of former students who were goaded into asking for the joke. They usually wished that they hadn’t after he told it. It was horrible.
Tank was a member of Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Timberlake Road, Lynchburg and taught Confirmation class, Adult Sunday School, and served on several committees. The job that he enjoyed most was acting as cashier for the annual rummage sale.
Tank also loved his pets, who were all waiting for him on the other side of the Rainbow Bridge.
The Celebration of Life will be Saturday, Nov 16th at 11:00 AM at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, 7336 Timberlake Road, Lynchburg. Since Tank was not a dress up kind of guy, casual attire is encouraged. Jeans are acceptable.
In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to Bethlehem Lutheran Church.
