Anita Baker

Mary A. "Anita" Baker, 93, died in her home, surrounded by family and companion Jack McCaw, Sunday, November 3, 2024, after a short bout of cancer. She was blessed to have a sharp mind and to be able to carry on her normal, daily routines at home until the day before she died.

She was born June 21, 1931, at the Seeley Farm house near Trenton, Neb., to Oren F. and Iris A. (Seeley) Bridwell, the austere surroundings due to the financial constraints of the Great Depression.

Childhood years were in the small, eastern Colorado town of Vona where her father was a school teacher, coach, principal and superintendent. Anita was born after her parents had lost a son, Charles Francis, age two years, nine months, in August of 1930. During the summers of her early childhood, she lived with a childless aunt and uncle in Wyoming.

The years which impacted her life tremendously were those leading to and including World War II. School employment lead her father to a superintendent position with the company-operated school in the mining town of Climax, Colo., elevation 11,300 feet, where the family, now including a sister, Iris Margaret, lived until World War II started.

She finished the Fifth Grade in Climax after her father received a commission with the United States Navy. While her dad completed Officer Candidate School at Ohio State University, she attended Sixth Grade in Boulder, Colo., where her parents had attended Colorado University. In the summer, they moved to Chula Vista, Calif., where he was stationed at Otay Mesa Naval Air Station.

Anita went to Seventh Grade in Chula Vista at which time her father was deployed to the South Pacific Theater and the family moved to Gypsum, Colo. for the summer.

Eighth Grade (1944-45) was in Boulder, and her father returned stateside about the time of V-E Day. His next duty station was Trenton, Mich., where the family was reunited and Anita started Ninth Grade just as the country celebrated the end of the war.

She remembered long bike rides on the back roads near the Otay Mesa Naval Air Station in California, and riding the Detroit streetcar to movie theaters where Big Bands of the day performed.

In 1946, the Bridwells settled in Denver and Anita attended East Denver High School her sophomore, junior and senior years, graduating in 1949. A classmate was John L. "Jack" Swigert, Apollo 13 astronaut.

In high school, she played clarinet in the orchestra and marching band and was active in the Rainbow Girls, serving as Worthy Advisor of the Denver Chapter.

Again, national-security events impacted the Bridwell family: when coal miners went on strike in 1946, President Harry S Truman put the Navy in charge of mining coal, and her father's discharge orders were delayed while he and another officer operated the mines.

She enrolled in Colorado University studying Elementary Education. There she met Thomas C. Baker of Fort Morgan, Colo., at a sorority dance. During their courtship, they invited both sets of parents to meet. Tom's mother Molly asked Anita's mother Iris if she had given birth to a baby in the hospital in Brush, Colo., in 1927. Amazing, one mother-in-law had been the other future mother-in-law's nurse.

They married on December 23, 1951, in Denver. She finished the semester at Colorado then followed Tom to Pittsburgh, Penn., where he was attending Carnegie Tech in Printing Management. After graduation, the couple returned to Denver, where her husband worked at a commercial printing company. There was a brief sojourn to a job in Grand Junction, Colo., and a return to Denver.

A son, Charles, was born in 1953, daughter Margaret "Peggy" was born in 1955, and son Loyal was born in 1958. Anita finished her degree in Education in 1960 and taught in Denver a couple years.

Tom dreamed of being a newspaper publisher and their requirements were: a small town with a Presbyterian Church. They learned of an expired listing in Waitsburg and he flew to Washington to look at the property during the Columbus Day Storm of 1962. Anita applied for a job at the Dayton School District and was interviewed by Supt. Charles Clizer.

The family moved to Waitsburg in June, 1963, and Tom and Anita became newspaper owners in June, 1964, purchasing from Carl and Virginia Dilts. Anita taught Second Grade in Dayton, helped on press day at The Times, and in later years joined Tom as co-publisher. She kept stats of football and basketball games while Tom took pictures.

In light of her many moves during the war, when she crested the hill and Waitsburg hove into view, she proclaimed: "This is where I'm going to live. I'm never going to move."

Anita taught a few years in Dayton, waiting for an opening for the Third Grade job in Waitsburg because she did not want to teach her own children. She taught until retiring in 1991.

Submitted photo

Anita Baker, 1991

Through the years in partnership with Tom, she got to meet several VIPs, including Ronald and Nancy Reagan, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Rep. Steve Largent, Nelson Rockefeller, Red Skelton and numerous Washington governors and state politicians.

In retirement, the only change in her daily routine was not going to work with the benefit of time to travel, including tours of Israel, Greece, and several trips across the U.S. She remained active in the numerous church, civic, fraternal and other organizations such as directing the Presbyterian Church Choir, Chapter BE, P.E.O., Koinonia Club, Eastern Star, United Presbyterian Women, Odako Club, Waitsburg Historical Society, Commercial Club, Bible studies and others. Anita and Tom joined Jack and Laurette McCaw for drives and dinners for 25 years, and after Tom and Laurette passed away, Anita and Jack continued their companionship.

Anita and Jan Cronkhite shared Commercial Club's Citizen of the Year honors in 2004. She was proud to have descended from Edward Fuller, a passenger on the Mayflower. She was a life member of the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association and an honorary member of the Waitsburg Alumni Association, Class of 1949.

She avidly followed college football and professional baseball, loved to watch reruns of Lawrence Welk, voraciously worked crossword puzzles and cryptograms, knitted special booties for grandchildren and favorite friends, maintained an orderly household, and always had a bright smile for anyone she met. A lifelong teacher, she would instruct grandchildren on the "roadside" geology on cross-country drives. Until unable, she rode bicycles and walked for exercise. Anita and Tom made their Walk with Christ in 2007.

Anita is survived by son Charles (Sandi), daughter Margaret "Peggy" (Randy), and son Loyal (Charlotte); grandchildren Tom (Nikki) of Meridian, Idaho, Molly Baker (Dave Hendrickson) of Sequim, Wash., Daniel (Hannah) of Kuna, Idaho, and Emilie Baker (Jake Scott) of Port Townsend, Wash., Anthony (Dannielle) Henry, West Richland, Wash., Matthew (Corinne) Baker, Loveland, Colo., and Morgan (Carina) Baker, Largo, Fla.; great-grandchildren Everlee Baker, Boise, Idaho, Keira, Elijah and Zion Baker of Meridian, Idaho, Leia Baker Hendrickson and River Baker Hendrickson of Sequim, Elizabeth and Sophia Baker, Kuna, Idaho, Valerie Baker Scott, Port Townsend; Carter, Sophie and Lainey Henry, West Richland, Drayson, Graham and Calvin Baker, Loveland, Colo.; niece Cas (Bob) Monaco, Raleigh-Durham, N.C., niece Sandy (Mark) Jensen, Severance, Colo., and nephew Mike (Julie) Kelly, Bozeman, Mont.; four cousins; and dearly loved companion Jack McCaw.

She was preceded in death by her parents; brother Charles Bridwell and sister Iris Margaret Kelly; husband Tom in 2016; daughter-in-law Patty Baker; and granddaughter Whitney Baker.

An Order of the Eastern Star Graveside Service will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday, November 9, 2024, at the Waitsburg City Cemetery on Eighth Street. A reception will follow at the Waitsburg Presbyterian Church Fellowship Hall, Fifth and Main Streets, Waitsburg.

A Memorial Service will be held at 1 p.m. Sunday, November 10, 2024, at the Waitsburg Presbyterian Church, Rev. Heidi Lum, Presbyterian Church pastor, officiating. A reception will follow in the Fellowship Hall. The service will be live-streamed by Waitsburg Presbyterian Church on YouTube.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Amalia Baker-Peggy Baker Mudd Nursing Scholarship through the Blue Mountain Community Foundation, Shriner's Hospital for Children, Waitsburg Historical Society, Association of Retarded Citizens (ARC), or the charity of the donor's choice.

Corbeill Funeral Home of Dayton is caring for the family.