Paul Baker

Paul Dean Baker, 72, of Shumway passed away at 2:55 a.m. Sunday, March 30, 2008, at St. Anthony’s Memorial Hospital, Effingham. Funeral services will be held at 3 p.m. today at Lockart-Green Funeral Home, Beecher City. Kent Denton will officiate. Visitation will be from 1 p.m. until service time at the funeral home. Burial will be in Arborcrest Memorial Park, rural Effingham. Memorials can be made to the family. Paul was born Oct. 3, 1935, in Fayette County, the son of Jesse and Dorothy Woods Baker. He married Helen Heil Oct. 2, 1965, in Beecher City. Paul worked at Fedders Corporation in Effingham for 43 years and retired in 1999. He loved time spent with his grandchildren and enjoyed fast cars (usually a hot-rod Ford), riding a motorcycle (usually an Indian or Norton) and fishing. Surviving are his wife, Helen; children, Eddy Baker and wife Sheryl of Olney, Stanley Baker and wife Jill of Mason, Doty Cain of Effingham, Angela Ladendorf of Mattoon, Cindy Bushue and husband Steve of Mason and Diane Harmon and husband Mike of Newton; 15 grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren; sister, Lois Neal and husband Darrell of Effingham; brothers, Leon Baker and wife Joyce of Orange County, Fla., Don Baker and wife Lou, and Dale Baker and wife Bobbi, both of Springfield. He was preceded in death by his parents; and a sister, Helen Spracklen.