Bruce Eldon Baker

(News story) Bruce Eldon Baker, a self-employed building contractor who taught bricklaying and other masonry skills at the federal prison in Milan, Mich., died Aug. 25 at Vibrant Life Senior Living in Temperance, one day shy of his 94th birthday.

He had been living at Vibrant Life for about a year, but he did not need hospice care until his health took a sharp decline several weeks ago, his daughter Cindy Manders said.

Mr. Baker learned masonry from his father and became a building contractor, like his father. He was self-employed from 1948 until 1967, when he took the federal prison job.

"He said the best day employment-wise was the day he got in at the federal correctional institution," Mrs. Manders said. "All of a sudden he didn't have to work outside, he didn't have to work seven days a week, and he got benefits."

She said her dad loved teaching, and he loved the inmates he taught. He was promoted to an associate supervisor of education at the prison and helped develop an educational curriculum that would help inmates find employment once they were released. The goal was no recidivism.

When he wasn't teaching, Mr. Baker was in his shop. He collected anything wooden, even if it was discarded, and turned it into furniture, home decor, or gifts.

"He liked to take little mementos," Mrs. Manders said. "If he was going to his doctor he would make something wooden and take it to him."

A 1998 Blade article highlighting Mr. Baker's woodworking hobby said he often spent up to 15 hours in his workshop. He built or refurbished so many items that in the fall of 1997 he auctioned off more than 300 so he could have room to make more.

"It shouldn't be considered work," Mr. Baker said. "Because searching for discarded wood and turning it into an item of value always has been real fun."

Mr. Baker was born Aug. 26, 1923, in Luckey, Ohio, to Mary and Herbert Baker. He was a 1941 Troy High School graduate and in 1951 earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Toledo. He went back to school and earned his master's degree from Eastern Michigan University in 1982.

Don Manders, Mr. Baker's son-in-law, said Mr. Baker kept busy through retirement. He and his wife, Carol, traveled to every state except Alaska.

Mr. Manders, who called his father-in-law "brother," said they often attended Toledo Mud Hens games or ran errands together in Petersburg, Mich., where Mr. Baker lived most of his life.

Mr. Baker's retirement routine was to stop in the small town he was visiting and speak with whoever was around.

A 2008 Blade article said Mr. Baker was the first to record an oral history with the Summerfield-Petersburg Branch Library.

"If you were going to go somewhere with him where there were going to be a lot of people, you're going to have a long day because he's going to want to talk with everybody," Mr. Manders said.

Mr. Baker was a member of First United Presbyterian Church in Petersburg until it closed. He was then a member of Petersburg United Methodist Church.

Survivors are his wife, the former Carol Jean Hewitt, whom he married March 20, 1948; son, Randy Baker; daughters, Cindy Manders and Betsy Mangus; a sister, Joyce Faver; five grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren.

Visitation is from 2-8 p.m. Monday at Capaul Funeral Home in Ida, Mich. Funeral services are set for 2 p.m. Tuesday at Petersburg United Methodist Church.

The family suggests tributes to Petersburg United Methodist Church or to the Summerfield-Petersburg Branch Library.

This is a news story by Sarah Elms. Contact her at: selms@theblade.com, 419-724-6103 or on Twitter @BySarahElms.