TRINITYADVANCE
13
Alumni Spotlight
Tana Baumler
Written by Linda Kent (‘81), Alumni Relations Coordinator
For weeks I’ve been hearing about the renowned Maltby Café. “Tell me again, where is this café?” “Well in Maltby, of course.” Funny, I’ve never heard of that Seattle suburb. As I wind my way through Mill Creek and Woodinville, the trees grow dense, prompting an unconscious sigh—a little bit of country. And then there it is, the quaint village of Maltby. I spot a modest building, built in 1937 as a gym and cafeteria for the schoolhouse next door. The café is located in the lower level, and I’m quickly drawn into the beautifully warm space by Tana Baumler, a woman with an even warmer smile and eyes that say, welcome. We sit at a corner table as employees go through their closing ritual. One stops by to give Baumler a hug before she leaves. Tana Lawson Baumler (’76) has never been one to sit on the sidelines. Nor has she been one to walk by someone in need. Baumler grew up in the hard living mining town of Butte, Montana. Her pastor encouraged her to attend the Lutheran Bible Institute of Seattle. “I arrived with some rough edges that needed to be smoothed out,” she says with a chuckle. The deep love and care of the staff and teachers at LBI made a tremendous impact on Baumler’s life, as did the ministries she was involved in, including the Seamen’s Center and other shelters. “I felt like I was in this warm nurturing hand, which was teaching me as well,” she said. Upon graduation, Baumler and classmate Artha Shaw Petermann (’76) traveled through Europe for a year. Looking back through her travel journal, Baumler was surprised to see she had unconsciously written “when I have a restaurant someday” again and again in its pages. She now realizes that she shouldn’t have been so surprised—Baumler has always worked in the food industry. When she arrived at LBI with no money, she pestered the owner of The Turkey House restaurant for two weeks until he gave her a job. It proved to be a wonderful place to work, laying the foundation for her philosophy of service at the award-winning Maltby Café. When Baumler married German-born soccer-playing Gunther Baumler, she got her foot on the ball. Before long she was on
a women’s team. Often she and a few fellow players would go out for coffee at a cafe that was clearly going nowhere. When someone suggested the group of friends purchase the restaurant, Baumler said “Sure.” “I don’t think any of us really thought we were serious about it,” she said. The next thing she knew, she was knee deep in a kitchen makeover to suit the cooking style of their newly imagined Maltby Café. Baumler’s heart of service touches many corners of life. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, she went to cook and care for countless in need. When asked to join the Trinity Board of Directors at the critical time of discerning a move from the Issaquah campus, Baumler was all in. “The move had me on my knees in prayer more than any time in my life,” she said. An elderly friend, in need and largely abandoned by her family, spurred Baumler into action—driving regularly out of town to be her friend’s caregiving advocate. When a café employee landed in jail, Baumler was there with care and no nonsense guidance to help him find his way. Her passionate volunteerism, in tandem with her fellow Rotarians, serves the community in substantial ways. In June, Baumler and her two original partners will celebrate 25 years of wowing their customers with service and consistency, not to mention amazing food—garnering numerous impressive awards. Some recipes are inspired by her journey through Europe, like her Mediterranean dressing from a roadside café in Portugal. It’s a family affair as well, with daughters Tessa and Keesha being part of the café team, as well as her six-year-old granddaughter who already has “a volunteer’s heart.” Many employees have been with her for 25 years—a testament to her ethic of care and respect. Baumler and her partners provide benefits for their staff beyond industry standards. Some years ago, a Trinity colleague asked Baumler what she thought she would do after LBI. She paused and said, “I really don’t think I knew ... perhaps a teacher ... well, I guess I am a teacher.” Yes, a teacher indeed, as well as a person not content to stand on the side of the road, but like the Good Samaritan enters into the brokenness of others to offer the love of God in the most tangible ways.