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Jim Baugh monument dedicated at Putnam County Courthouse
It took nearly 20 years for a permanent memorial to Capt. Jim Baugh to come to fruition.
But in the two decades since the veteran lawman’s unexpected death on Jan. 2, 2004, he’s lived on in the memories of the friends and residents he served for more than 30 years.
That much was clear Tuesday during a ceremony on the south steps of the Putnam County Courthouse, which served as both a commemoration of the 20th anniversary of Baugh’s death and the dedication of a monument in his honor.
A crowd not simply composed of police officers, but of fellow residents who considered him a friend gathered in Baugh’s honor.
Son Jerrod, who joined his father just over a year ago among the men who’ve served as Putnam County sheriff, discussed the way various parties process a line-of-duty death for a police officer, with the family asking why their loved one and why now. The department, on the other hand, asks a more probing version of why that is followed by asking how it can be prevented. The community, meanwhile, mourns and supports the family and department.
“Then the quiet comes,” Jerrod said. “This is probably the part that hurts the most.”
In a certain sense, the Baughs — who were represented on Tuesday by Jim’s widow Lauralee as well as Jerrod and his wife Tara and daughter Gayle — have been living in “the quiet” for 20 years.
But much like Jim Baugh the man, Jim Baugh the memory isn’t quiet.
“Then out of nowhere someone reminds you that they were a hero in how they lived and not how they died,” Jerrod said. “So many times you’d hear, ‘Did I ever tell you about the time that your dad did’ … dot, dot, dot. Most of you can fill in a story or three there.”
Everyone has a Jim Baugh story, none more than his family.
“Some of you may have stories of an Elf on the Shelf. Well, we have the Jim Baugh story of ‘The Drunk in the Trunk’ and many more that we probably shouldn’t discuss in public, but touched us just the same,” Jerrod said. “We are then reminded how this whole thing works. It’s just life.”
Pastor Mark Miller shared a story or two of his own during the ceremony, recalling that Jim Baugh was nearing the end of his second term as sheriff when Miller came to town as minister at Greencastle Christian Church in 1982.
“I remember it was a New Year’s Eve celebration at the church when Jim and Lauralee walked in about midnight, and it was the end of his term,” Miller recalled. “He was so looking forward to being a normal police officer serving and not having all the junk sometimes that goes with everything. They walked in and were able to celebrate.”
Miller also recalled that Jim usually had something funny to say following Sunday messages. He also had memories of the night the veteran officer passed.
“I don’t know that I’ll forget 20 years ago. My wife and I were heading out of town to meet some friends for dinner, and saw all the things that were happening up on Waterworks Hill and made a detour,” Miller said. “We were on our way north when our phone rang and realized what had happened.”
Baugh, a few months from retiring from the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office after 32 years, was responding to a call when he lost control of his car, hit an embankment and overturned in Big Walnut Creek. He was extricated but died a few hours later at the hospital.
“It was a hard night because we were at Methodist Hospital gathered in that room,” Miller said. “But what a night and what a time of love and celebration of his life and what he meant to so many.”
That still shines through, something that Miller noted that Gayle Baugh — just a toddler when her grandpa died — learned when she was on the campaign trail with her dad in 2022.
“Even in the campaign, Gayle heard a lot of stories about her grandpa throughout this county — a tribute to the impact that this man had on so many people,” Miller said
Representing the Putnam County Commissioners, David Berry called it a “solemn yet joyous occasion” and in just a few words, perhaps summed up Jim Baugh’s legacy as well as anyone.
“He’s one of the few people that I’ve ever known — I never heard a bad word about the man,” Berry said. “Everywhere he went he touched somebody.”
Calling the tribute “a long time coming,” Berry acknowledged how the commissioners worked with the family to make it happen.
Jerrod Baugh also expressed the family’s gratitude to the commissioners.
“This is a special occasion, and we as a family are forever grateful to the county commissioners for their dedication to remembering our fallen hero, Capt. Jim Baugh,” the younger Baugh said. “Tom Helmer, Rick Woodall and David Berry — thank you for stepping up and letting those who did not know Jim always have a look into his time here on earth and a reminder to those he did know, a remembrance of his service and sacrifice to Putnam County. Thank you.”
The stone was placed last spring without ceremony, with Tuesday serving as its official dedication.
The memorial itself is simple and straightforward, with a photo and details of Baugh’s service noted on a plaque on the north side of the marble monument.
James “Jim” Baugh”
Putnam County Sheriff’s Department 1971-2004
Sheriff 1975-1982
Died in the line of duty Jan. 2, 2004
Friend and mentor to many
Father of two
Husband to one
On the back, it simply has Baugh’s retired PCSO unit number — 67-6 — and his end of watch date: 1/2/04.
“I can’t thank you enough for our family to have a memorial like this, placed where it is, that will outlast everybody standing here,” he added. “It is good to look across the crowd and see how many he touched. There are always those funny stories, some that we tell time and time again and they never really do get old. It’s good to see those familiar faces and the joy that he brought not only to the law enforcement community but I think in the county as a whole.”
Regarding the location of the monument, it’s placed on the south side of the courthouse, just off the sidewalk that wraps around the building near a door that once led to the Putnam County 911 Dispatch office, before it moved to its current location southwest of town – several years after Jim Baugh’s death.
“When asked by these men (the commissioners) where on the courthouse lawn would we like a memorial to stand, it was easy to pick a spot that many a person or deputy would meet Dad entering or leaving dispatch,” Jerrod said. “When dispatch was located just behind those doors, there was a wall that was about chest high. It was at this location that many funny stories, vacation photos and discussions about dispatchers’ kids would end with a call sending him to all corners of the county.
“I will tell you that there were also some … let’s just call them moments of learning and concerning corrections had with many friends that he called dispatchers.”
Memories of a few of those dispatcher friends will be shared in an upcoming Banner Graphic story.
Jerrod Baugh also expressed his appreciation for a community that treats police officers as well as it does.
“Putnam County’s a good place to be, and it’s a good place to be a law enforcement officer,” he said.
“Thank you everybody for coming. It’s been 20 years, and it still hurts like hell because he was a good man and a good officer,” Lauralee Baugh said as the ceremony came to a close.