Bill J. Baker

1924 - 2021

Bill J. Baker
May 2, 1924 - June 19, 2021
Fort Worth, Texas - Bill J Baker, 97, died from natural causes on June 19, 2021 after living a full and well-traveled life.
Memorial: 12 p.m. Saturday in Greenwood Chapel. Visitation: 6 to 8 p.m. Friday at Greenwood.
He was born May 2, 1924, in Vivian, Louisiana, the youngest of five children of John Floyd Baker and Laura Howard Baker. A child of the Great Depression, Bill learned the value of a dollar and maximizing his talents. Steeped in the gospel music of the day, Bill earned up to one-hundred dollars a night singing high tenor with gospel quartets across the South and Southeastern United States.
After graduating from Atlanta High School in Atlanta, Texas, and with the world entering World War II, Bill enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps hoping to become a pilot. Although he qualified for the position, the Army Air Corps determined with his math skills and demonstrated intellect, he could better serve as a navigator, which he did for 30 combat missions over the European Theater. With an honorable discharge, he left the Army Air Corp with the rank of Captain.
He then attended Bethany Nazarene College (now Southern Nazarene University) where he met the love of his life, Charlene Jernigan. They married in 1947 and he graduated in 1948 with a Bachelor of Arts degree which included a major in philosophy and a minor in voice. After college and a move to Trousdale, Kansas, Bill taught school and coached basketball. The movie "Hoosiers" was a favorite because of its many parallels to his own experience and the realistic portrayal of the life of a high school coach in the late 1940s and early '50s in the Midwest.
Presented with a combination of opportunities involving coaching, teaching and sales, as well as graduating from Texas Christian University, he fell in love with North Texas. They left Kansas in 1950 and proudly raised a family in Fort Worth. During his lifelong residency of over 70 years in Fort Worth, he served as the Minister of Music in the Nazarene Church from the early 1960s until 1973; was also a member of the Kiwanis Club and avid supporter of the YMCA.
Those opportunities blended into a long career of sales and financial consulting for then Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance, now MassMutual, allowing Bill financial freedom and travel. From 1954 until 2020, he remained a season ticketholder to TCU football games. In 1962 he became a member of Colonial Country Club, playing in what is believed to be a world record 52 consecutive pro-am golf tournaments at Colonial.
By 1967, he had traveled - usually by driving the family in the latest automobile - to every state in the continental USA. Not long after, he and his wife, Charlene were able to travel to Europe, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. For their 50th wedding anniversary Bill treated his family to a well-deserved Caribbean cruise.
Bill was preceded in death by his son, Jonathan Jernigan Baker; and his wife of 73 years, Charlene.
Bill is survived by three children, Kipp Baker and wife, Bonnie, Scott Baker and wife, Karla and Susan Baker Wilson and husband, Dr. Andy Wilson; five grandchildren, Kristin Baker-Seawell, Daniel Baker, David Baker, Dr. Elizabeth Steiger and Peyton Wilson; as well as four great-grandchildren, Luke Baker, Clyde and Vivian Seawell and newest arrival, Aubrey Baker.