Olga Baker

1926 - 2020

Olga Baker passed away peacefully at the Pioneers' Home on Jan. 19, 2020, at the age of 93.
Olga's life started at midnight between Oct. 13 and 14 in 1926 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. For 80 years she celebrated on the 14th and then computerized records from Canada informed the Social Security that her birthday was really Oct. 13. Thus, from then on she had a two day celebration.
Olga grew up in the colorful Ukrainian Greek Catholic community, the daughter of Ksenia Struminsky and John Adams (formerly Atamaniuk). She remembered the depression well and her mother taking on boarders in their home as she and her sister cleaned and cooked. She enjoyed telling that she would bicycle a long way to her horseback riding lessons and it was worth it because she loved the horses.
After she graduated from high school, she and her best friend Margaret Henshaw (Peggy) headed to NYC where they worked in the cosmetic industry and ended up traveling all over the U.S. on trains, managing sales in department stores. Their travels eventually took them to California. They crossed paths with the likes of Robert Mitcham as they lived next door in a small bungalow. Olga settled in Long Beach, working in a flight school office while taking flying lessons after her time as a flight attendant. A tall, handsome recent discharge from the Army Medical Core stationed in Alaska began his flight lesson training. Paul, who grew up in Long Beach, was persistent to get that first date, and Olga agreed to marry him after only three dates. With Peggy as her maid of honor sending them off, Olga, Paul and the best man drove to Alaska in 1951 on the Alcan Highway in a four-wheel drive flatbed with building material.
Their first home was in Lemeta, near Creamer's Field, and Olga would laugh remembering that the trips to the outhouse always meant a view of the curious cows. In 1957, Paul who constructed smaller homes in Riverview, built their home in Weeks Field, one of the first on the newly defined property for this new neighborhood. They raised their two children (Larry and Michelle) there, survived the 1967 flood and operated businesses from their home. Olga kept her first bookkeeping business licenses from The Territory of Alaska.
Olga, very astute with numbers, operated her own bookkeeping business and worked for architects, Gray, Rogers & Cotting. When Paul left the city of Fairbanks to work for Aetna Life Insurance, Olga handled his paperwork for him. The family has ledgers of her careful, left-handed, tiny, exquisite numbers all done tediously in a big bound ledger. They both became securities licensed and even in their late 70s took their continuing education credits on the computer. Olga orchestrated property deals in town and in Hawaii, organized the incorporation of Baker & Associates, Inc. with her son and husband, with Olga as majority stock holder for many years. She handled the initial accounting and carrier set up while also working as Paul's assistant in his Aetna securities business. Paul and Olga's offices were first at their home and then at the Baker Building shared with Baker & Associates, Inc.
In the 1950s the Bakers purchased land on Harding Lake on the south side with no road access. The family enjoyed the log cabin, the fire pit and the water activities every summer when Larry and Michelle were growing up. Water skiing was frequent and a sailboat was often on anchor. They built a larger, newer cabin in the early 1990s. Olga and Paul were both avid skiers and volunteered on the Cleary Summit Ski Patrol, making life-long friends. They skied in Europe and out West with ski patrol friends and with Larry. Olga and Paul loved the ocean and bought their first condo at the end of Kihei on Maui before development set in. They played golf, swam, sailed and walked the beaches for many decades moving to the Wailea area in their later years. Olga and Michelle started golf lessons in the late 60s. Olga and Paul were always excited to have their children visit and to play with their grandchildren on the beach and in the pool. They spent many years enjoying the smell, the feel and the sound of the ocean.
Olga had many interests and talents. She doted on her perennials and gave many away to others starting their own beds. She tended the garden with her husband, made raspberry jam and rhubarb pies. She kept busy as a seamstress and made many of her own formal gowns to wear to Paul's insurance conventions. She enjoyed remodels and decorating, social gatherings, animals and adventures. She was quick to laugh and tell stories. When she researched a subject from building to business, she mastered the topic. Reading the Wall Street Journal from start to finish was fun for her and Paul would deliver it to her daily with her morning cup of coffee. At one time she was an IRS Enrolled Agent and she often fielded questions from other accountants and UAF on current tax laws. She was a member of Beta Sigma Phi for many years and enjoyed her Ladies Stock Club and Bridge Club gatherings. Remodeling and designing the new Harding Lake cabin was a fun project for her and something that she was very competent in accomplishing. The family found many of her sketches of property builds or remodels. From her rolled up jeans and painting shirt to night-life elegance on business trips, Olga always looked stylish, always smiling. An eager reader, Olga spent every afternoon in her last years at home on her couch, reading a good book with her cat, Jasmine, snuggled at her feet. The Baker household always had a cat, several of them Siamese.
Olga passed away on Jan. 19, 2020. She lived to be 93 and was in the care of the wonderful staff and facility of the Pioneers' Home for almost five years with the competent medical support of Dr. Blaise and his kind staff at Polar Wind Medical. Her eyes and smile always lit up when great-grandchildren came to visit. She also enjoyed the visits of a family dog, the Pioneers' Home pets and the visiting Pioneers' Home horse. The Baker family would like to graciously thank all the kind professionals especially Evie, Mary and Wena who cared for her in her own home for 3 ½ years and all the friendly, competent staff at the Pioneers' Home. We would also like to thank Hospice Services for their knowledgeable and compassionate care in Olga's last days.
Olga was preceded in death by her husband, Paul, of 58 years, her parents, Ksenia and John, her sister June and her best friend Peggy. She is survived by her daughter Michelle (Anchorage), her son Lawrence and his wife Katharine (Fairbanks), grandchildren Heidi and her family (Fairbanks), Brandon (Fairbanks & Japan), Lara (California), her nephew William (Austria) and her cousin Sonia (Toronto), Sonia's daughter Dana (California), Leslie (Toronto) and Millie (Vancouver).
Due to the on-going COVID-19 pandemic situation, the gathering we had been hoping for this summer did not occur. Please consider a donation in Olga's name to Hospice of the Tanana Valley, the Pioneers' Home Foundation or the Pet Pride Angel Fund.
Arrangements were entrusted to Fairbanks Funeral Home.