JOHN BAKER

BAKER JOHN BAKER, COL USA (Ret.) COL (U.S. Army, retired) John Baker, 96, a veteran of World War II and the Korean War and a lawyer and judge, died peacefully surrounded by his loving family on Saturday, August 2, 2014. He was the beloved husband of Jean McIntyre (Gillette) Baker and a resident for many years of Castine, ME. He was an extraordinary individual and was unswerving in devotion to his family and friends, and to his country. The son of Barney Wilcox Baker, a lawyer, and Mary Lillian (Rose) Baker, a teacher, COL Baker was born in Hazard, KY, on June 5, 1918. Upon graduation from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1942, he served in stateside Air Defense and Coast Artillery units before returning to West Point as an instructor in military engineering. After a follow-on assignment at the Engineer School, the Army assigned him to Yale University, and in 1951, shortly after receiving a law degree, he deployed to Korea as Staff Judge Advocate, 3rd Infantry Division. Subsequent assignments with the Army's Judge Advocate General's Corps took him back to West Point, where he served as an Associate Professor inthe Department of Law; to Heidelberg and Munich, Germany; to Fort Meade, MD; to Fort Knox, KY; to Fort Amador, Panama Canal Zone; and to Fort Monroe, VA. After retiring from the Army in 1970, COL Baker returned to Panama, where he served with the U.S. federal courts as a Magistrate-Judge until 1982, when the implementation of the Panama Canal Treaty resulted in the termination of U.S. federal jurisdiction in the former Canal Zone. In addition to his wife of nearly sixty-eight years, Jean, COL Baker is survived by a large family: his six children Jody Hoffman (Rich) of Waxhaw, NC; COL (U.S. Army retired) John E. Baker (Lynn) of Charlottesville, VA; Margaret K-J. Baker of Berkeley, CA; Robin Lambert (Eric) of Torrance, CA; Barney Baker (Caroline) of Freeport, ME; and Col (USMC) Matthew Baker (Ann) of Virginia Beach, VA; fourteen grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his infant sister, Margaret Rose Baker, his brother, Maj Gen Ben Baker (U.S. Air Force, retired), and a granddaughter, Jessica Kingeter. COL Baker will be buried at West Point with full military honors on September 15, 2014. Contributions in his memory may be made to the Gosnell Memorial Hospice House, 11 Hunnewell Road, Scarborough, ME 04074. Condolences may be addressed to his wife, Jean Baker, c/o the Baker Family, 7 Spruce Road, Freeport, ME 04032.