Eulogy by Peter J. Marcher read at John's Funeral Mass Part 1:
"John Francis Baesch was the only child of Rudolph and Shirley Baesch. He was raised here in Parkville, Maryland in a house on Old Harford Road. St. Ursula’s was his parish, and in the spring of 1958, he graduated from St. Ursula’s Grade School. Accordingly, Evelyn Herzog, his wife, decided that this would be a convenient and appropriate venue for his funeral mass.
Good morning and, on behalf of Evelyn, welcome! I’m Pete Marcher, a long-time friend of John. I first met him in our freshman year in the fall of 1958, in section 1D at Loyola High School. After freshman year we followed separate studies. He became a Greek scholar. I did not. By the time we graduated from Loyola College in the spring of 1966, he was one of my 2 best friends from school days.
Early on it was clear that John was smart with a very good memory for names, places, dates and obscure words. I was maybe a little envious of that. At Loyola High, the Jesuits expected you to spend at least 3 hours on homework every night. I know that I did. Years later I asked him how much time he usually spent. He allowed, “oh, maybe an hour”. My envies were confirmed. On the other hand, John was, to be charitable, “athletically challenged”. In spite of that, for years, his preferred modes of local transportation were walking and the Baltimore Transit Company. But, by the early 1970s, because of his job, he was forced to learn to drive and buy a car, long after that milestone 16th birthday.
In college, John chose a Latin major. Yes, he was one of only 2 in the class of 1966. I was not the other one. We both took Army ROTC and were commissioned as 2nd Lieutenants at graduation in 1966. Normally, active duty would soon follow, but John and I were deferred for 1 year at the convenience of the Army. John taught at Southern High School for that year. Incidentally, years later, that school was converted to apartments and, until recently, John and Evelyn resided there. Obviously, he loved the place. Anyway, on active duty, we both eventually ended up in Vietnam, John as a transportation officer at the Cam Ranh Bay air base. It was there In June 1970, after my one-year tour of duty, that John personally put me on a “freedom bird” back to the “world”.  At the airport Cpt. Baesch made sure that Cpt. Marcher was the first man out of the bus, on the tarmac, and, with a handshake, on the plane in his seat of choice for that long flight home. Always good to “know a guy” as they say!
When John got out of the Army, he was a Captain in the Transportation Corps with 4 years of experience. Since he was casting about for a career, didn’t want to return to teaching and had always had an interest in trains, I suggested that he apply for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad’s Management Training Program. I told him that if he applied, he would be a “shoo in”.  Well, he did and he was. The B & O soon became part of the Chessie System, and after working there for about 5 years, he hired on at Amtrak, where he held very responsible positions in several cities on Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor. I’m sure that there were many good, rewarding days, but surely the darkest was January 4, 1987, the day of the terrible wreck of train 94, the northbound Colonial at Chase, Maryland. Sixteen people died and it was a horrible mess. He was on-site and very involved in the clean-up. It must have been very traumatic, because although, at this point, we were very good friends, he never said much about the experience. After retiring from Amtrak in 1999, he returned to Baltimore, working at Parsons-Brinkerhoff (P-B), a transportation consulting firm. He finally retired in 2013. "