Search for celebrities on Ancestry.com!BAKER
Henry Eugene Baker
Henry Eugene Baker died at Woodland Skilled Nursing Facility Monday, Feb. 7, 2005 at age 78.
Mr. Baker was born Jan. 26, 1927 in Virginia. He had been a Yolo County resident for 35 years. He served in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy. He was a retired postal employee.
Mr. Baker was preceded in death by his wife, Helen Baker.
Services: Respecting the wishes of Mr. Baker, no services are scheduled. He requested that his body be donated to UC Davis for scientific research.
BAKER
Jane E. (Brait) Baker
Jane E. (Brait) Baker passed away on Aug. 15, 2000. Born April 6, 1917, she was 82. Jane was born and raised in Woodland. She marriage Edward A. Baker M.D. on May 1, 1941. They celebrated their 59 years of marriage love last May. They have resided in Orinda for 47 years.
Jane was a dedicated mother, grandmother, and homemaker. She enjoyed golf, gardening and traveling. She was a member of Orinda Country Club, DeAnza Country Club of Borrego Springs, a past member of the Carol Branch of the Children's Hospital of the East Bay, and an early volunteer at Samuel Merritt Hospital in Oakland.
She is survived by her husband, Dr. Edward A. Baker, M.D., daughters Gayle Baker Albo and Jan Baker Woods, and son Steven E. Baker, and granddaughters Erin Baker Martinez, Nicole and Deanna Albo, Taya, Megan and Mallory Woods.
A celebration of her life was held on Friday, Aug. 18 at 4 p.m. at the Orinda Country Club.
In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to one's favorite charity.
BAKER
Johnny Avis Baker
Johnny Avis Baker died at Veteran's Hospital in Menlo Park Thursday, Oct. 21, 2004 at age 71.
Mr. Baker was born Feb. 20, 1933 in Stroud, Okla. He has been a Yolo County resident for most of his life. He served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War. He was a professional tree trimmer; worked for PG&E and on the barges on the Mississippi River.
Survivors include Mr. Baker's sister, Cora Hunter and her husband Henry of Knights Landing; his brother Bill "Dub" Baker and his wife Lavern Baker of Woodland; his nieces and nephews, Ed and Linda Hunter of Colorado, Wallace and Glinda Hunter of Woodland, Gennell and Warren King of Knights Landing; Diane and Bugs Ricardo of Woodland, Sheila and Terry Briggs of Sebastopol, Lynn Buttner and Gary Wilson of Santa Rosa and Hope Baker of Esparto and several grandnieces and grandnephews. He was preceded in death by his parents Avis John and Lillie May Baker; his sister Georgia Delilah; his nephew Avis Hunter and great-grandniece Camryn Kinser.
The family requests that memorials in Mr. Baker's name be made to the Knights Landing Fire Department or to the charity of the donor's choice.
Services: A memorial service is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 30 at the Knights Landing Cemetery, County Road 102, Knights Landing. North Sacramento Funeral Home is assisting the family with arrangements.
BAKER
LaValle "Val" Baker
LaValle "Val" Baker passed away Tuesday, April 29, 2003, after a brief illness, he was 54.
Val loved the ocean. He often spent time with his wife, Sally, in Fort Bragg. He was an avid hunter and enjoyed weekend hunts with his son, Scott. His grandchildren were the light of his eye. He couldn't wait until they were old enough so he could take them to get their "1st buck." Val was a giving man and will be greatly missed by all who knew and loved him.
Val leaves behind his wife, Sally Baker; a son, Scott Baker, a daughter Nico Gonzalez; three grandsons, Alexander Baker-Andrade, Justin Baker, Donovan Gonzalez and two granddaughters, Tristian Baker and Venessa Gonzalez. He is also survived by his two brothers, David Baker and Patrick Baker; and his sister, Lynn Corando. He was preceded in death by his parents, Bill O. and Evelyn Baker.
The family requests memorials be directed to the charity of the donor's choice, in his behalf.
A memorial service in his honor will be held at his home in Yolo at 1 p.m. Saturday, May 10, 2003.
BAKER
Lynda Genevieve Baker
Born Sept. 20, 1961, in Sacramento, her family moved to Davis when she was 3 years old. She attended local schools, and music was always an important part of her life. She began playing the viola in grade school. In junior high she played flute in the orchestra. She started voice lessons at that time and was in the Concert Choir, and performed in a number of school musicals.
While attending Davis High School, she was a member of the youth choir at Davis Community Church under the direction of Rachel Kessler. In 1979, her senior year, she was pleased to be accepted into the Madrigals and performed under the direction of Richard Brunelle.
While she was very humble about her academic achievements, her family is proud to share that Lynda was on the dean's list during her time at UC Davis.
In the early 1980s she moved to Sacramento. She continued her interest in music by learning to play guitar. She began to perform her original songs at open mike nights in Sacramento and the Bay Area.
Her loss is keenly felt at the Sacramento Bee, where she worked for the last 14 years. She was grateful to work for a company that was so supportive and caring of its employees and where she made dear friends. She touched many lives at the Bee and they have tenderly shared their sorrow and sympathy with her family.
She was preceded in death by her oldest sister, Janice, in 1996.
She is survived by her mother, Clarice of Davis; father, Douglas and wife Patty of Wilton; brother, John and his wife Judi of Chicago; sisters, Liz and Laura and her husband Frank of Davis; and nieces and nephews, Jessica, Isaac, Billy, Anny, Julian, Jillian, Noelle and Olivia. She also leaves behind many aunts, uncles, cousins and friends.
Friends are invited to attend a memorial service at 11 a.m. Friday at First Baptist Church, 38141 Russell Blvd. in Davis. Memorial contributions may be made to Davis High School Music Department. Arrangements are under the direction of Davis Funeral Chapel.
(Dated Saturday, June 12, 2004)
BAKER
Marion Dolores Baker (obituary)
Mrs. Marion Dolores Baker passed away at Sutter Davis Hospital on June 21, 2004. She was 82 years old.
Marion had resided in Winters for the last 32 years in the home her father had built. She was born in Palo Alto* and resided in California her entire life. She was a graduate of Winters High School in 1940 and went on to receive degrees from U. C. Davis and U. C. Berkeley. She was a lifetime member of the Esparto branch of the Order of the Eastern Star.
She was the loving wife of the late Alvin J. Baker and beloved daughter of the late Judge Rod and Adele Degener and is survived by her son Rod and his wife, Connie, of Winters and cousins Jo and Lyle Heyford, of Capitola, and their families.
Marion was laid to rest on June 25, 2004 next to her loving husband of 55 years at the Winters Cemetery.
BAKER
William E. "Will" Baker
A memorial service will be held Sunday for Professor Emeritus William E. "Will" Baker of Guinda.
Baker, 70, was born on May 10, 1935, and died at his ranch in the Capay Valley on Aug. 27, 2005. The cause of death was an invasive form of cancer that had spread from his lungs to his spine and brain.
He was lucid and at work on his computer when the end came. His wife, Malinda, and three children, Cole, Montana and Willa and her fiancé, were close by.
At his request, his body will be cremated and his ashes scattered in several places that were important to him. Friends are invited to a wake at the Rumsey Town Hall in the Capay Valley at noon Sunday.
Baker held a belated birthday party last month at the town hall in Rumsey attended by more than 100 friends, former students, community members and members of his family.
"It was perfect timing and he was totally delighted, " Malinda Baker said Sunday. "A week later he could not have done it."
Baker was born in Idaho and grew up in the western United States. He bought his farm in the Capay Valley more than 30 years ago and once described life there as something like a Marine boot camp at a Zen monastery.
"It's not pastoral and laid-back; it's hard work but terrifically invigorating, " he said.
Baker earned his Ph.D. in English literature from UC Berkeley, his master's degree from the University of Hawaii, and his bachelor's degree from University of Washington. He also spent a year in Paris at the Sorbonne.
Baker taught both at Reed College and at UC Davis, the latter for more than 25 years, from 1969 to 1995.
He specialized in 19th century English poetry, 19th and 20th century British novels, cinema history, filmmaking, introduction to poetry and creative writing. He also was a musician.
"He was a marvelous friend, teacher, writer and colleague, " said longtime friend Jack Hicks, also of the UC Davis English department. "He was among the first major wave of national writers to establish the creative writing program at Davis along with Sandra Gilbert, Clarence Major, Gary Snyder and Sandy McPherson.
"Will was a community activist and a marvelous parent, " Hicks added. "He was unstinting in the time and support he gave to others. He had many dimensions."
"Baker was an extremely important mentor to all of the young writers who passed through the UC Davis Creative Writing Program, " said novelist Robert Clark Young of Sacramento. "He practiced learner-centered education before it had a name and his mentoring did not end when we left the program, but continued throughout the establishment of our teaching and writing careers."
Baker held a variety of jobs before choosing an academic career. He was a newspaper reporter for the Idaho Free Press, a farm laborer, construction hand, sawmill employee, ironworker, ordinary seaman and teamster.
He wrote comfortably in several different genres from nonfiction to science fiction/fantasy, from creative nonfiction to journalism.
In 1985, Baker won an Associated Writing Programs award in creative nonfiction, which resulted in the 1986 book titled "Mountain Blood." His 1979 Fulbright grant took him to Peru and resulted in a book, "Backward: An Essay on Indians, Time, and Photography, " published in 1983.
He was the author of 14 books including sci-fi/fantasy novels in the 1990s - "Raven Bride, " "Star Beast, " and "Shadow Hunter" - plus about 60 articles, stories, and poems in various magazines including Harper's, Outside, Whole Earth Review, Georgia Review, Missouri Review and Evergreen Review.
Baker was a passionate environmentalist and community activist devoted to preserving the Capay Valley. Most recently he helped organize the Capay Valley community in opposition to the expansion of the Cache Creek Casino Resort in Brooks.
In 1999 he raised five calves on his Guinda almond and melon farm as part of an experiment in ranching, which he enjoyed telling people about.
"(Ranching) is part of my heritage, too, my background, " he said. "I only lost $480, which people tell me is really good for the cow trade, " he added.
"Tony and the Cows: A True Story from the Range Wars, " a nonfiction work about land issues, was published in 2000.
His last work, "Paris Journal, " is being printed by his estate; copies will be sold at Bogey's Books in Davis and The Next Chapter in Woodland. Baker wanted sales from "Paris Journal" to go toward a scholarship fund.
This is how he described it: "I have attempted to launch this (fund) by publishing an essay on art and war, written over the last three years. It's a travel journal that tries to make the case that our republic has become much more of a warrior than an artist, and a much gloomier and more threatening place, but there is real power in art to reverse that drift. Artists sing, dance, tell great stories, make wonderful pictures of things no one has ever seen before. They delight others and themselves, and for the most part their work harms no one."
It was Baker's hope that people would read "Paris Journal, " pass it along, and make contributions to the scholarship fund. To learn more about the developing program, contact Jack Hicks at wjhicks@ucdavis.edu or 752-1658.
"I would like to earn enough to provide assistance to young artists, " Baker said, encouraging friends and readers to think of the project as a sort of nonprofit pyramid scheme.
Friends said Baker was a loving husband and father to his teenage children, Cole, 17, and Montana, 15. Additional survivors include his sister, Rachel Baker, of Idaho, and a niece and her husband, Niki and Juan Berrocal.
