Baumgartner Says Goodbye to YMCA After 29 Years

Carol Baumgartner, the Madison Area YMCA dance director, said her goodbyes to family, friends, fellow dancers, students and colleagues Thursday evening in Buttenheim Hall at the Madison Area YMCA.

“Miss Carol," as she was known to countless children through the dance department she took over in 1996, was also popular for her birthday parties and her themed tea parties. Her retirement party was full of flowers and animation, a compliment to her personality, said some of the more than 110 people who attended.

Her Y career started in 1982 as a fitness instructor and Joy dance instructor. Joy is a nationally-based choreographed exercise routine that uses a wide variety of music.

Some of the women who started the class with her are still dancing with the Joy class today, and came to celebrate Baumgartner’s 29 years at the Y. She was the family night coordinator. In that capacity, Baumgartner organized a Halloween night that brought in thousands. Other family night roles included Elmo and Minnie Mouse, where she hired costumed performers to please the children.

The "Joy Ladies," as they came to be known, volunteered in Baumgartner’s other creations. One of the most successful was International Night, a potluck featuring food and cultural objects from up to 35 countries where Baumgartner’s dancers and friends were encouraged to perform.

The dance department grew from a handful of day classes to more than 50 classes for preschool through adult, and involved year end shows, the last of which was held in June at the Morristown High School.

“Others will come here, but they’ll certainly never match her,” said Robert Conley, the YMCA's vice president for operations who was also a classmate of Baumgartner’s at Madison High School. Conley said he had “no idea tea parties would be such a connection for children,” and that any future tea parties “will never have the same flair.”

Baumgartner’s attention to detail was legendary, and a store’s worth of props were stored in Sterilite see-through containers that filled a closet at both the Y and at her home in Florham Park.

Diane Mann, the YMCA’s CEO for the last two years, said through Baumgartner‘s creativity she “had made a lasting impact at the 'Y,'” and, after having lunch with her recently, said she could “already see her figuring out ‘what‘s my next act‘?”

Kudos came from Baumgartner’s four children, who presented her with an award while describing themselves as “Y rats” who volunteered as early as age 8 while their mother worked. Some of the many people who taught dance for Baumgartner said they had a bucket full of memories and Miss Carol stories.

“Because of you, we all have each other. We’re like a little family,” said Connie Jesse, adding that Baumgartner started every conversation “with a compliment.”

For the first time in her life, Baumgartner tried figure skating when she corralled award winning Olympian JoJo Starbuck, a Madison resident,  into teaching through the Y at the Twin Oaks arena. The class led to day trips to Rockefeller Center where Starbuck was also employed as a trainer.

“When I think of Carol,” Starbuck said, “I think of the bubbles dancing on top of champagne.”

—Jamie Duffy