Claire M. Slade Baker

GLOUCESTER — Claire Mae Slade Baker, of Pigeon Cove, 80, beloved mother, grandmother, and wife, died Thursday, March 26, 2010, from complications of huntington's disease.

A kind, gentle, and nurturing soul throughout her life, she was devoted to her family. Born in the Manhattan neighborhood of Washington Heights in 1929 and raised in Bergenfield, N.J., she saw much of America moving back and forth between New York and Los Angeles in the 1950s, in support of her first husband's acting career.

During those years, she was employed at various times as a secretary at Capitol Records and BBDO advertising, an assistant manager of the Palm Springs Playhouse, an assistant casting director at CBS, and a clothes model for society luncheons at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. Of all the places she went, nothing compared to Rockport, which she visited first on a weekend in 1957.

Ten years later, she moved to town with her family, and did not leave again until compelled to do so by her extended final illness. Claire worked at a number of local businesses, including Gorton's of Gloucester and the L.E. Smith Hardware Store in Rockport, but her longest employment was the 16 years she spent as a caseworker at Senior Home Care in Gloucester. She was dedicated to her homebound clients, and took great pride in seeing they got the help they needed. She also wrote a periodic column for The Gloucester Daily Times, offering advice and information to senior citizens.

In her free time, she enjoyed fishing, boating, reading, and writing, and spending time with her husband, children, and grandchildren. She faced her affliction with courage and grace, and is sorely missed and lovingly remembered by her sister, Betty Kata Rice, of Norwich, N.Y.; her first husband, Kenneth Baker, of Hollywood, Calif.; her second husband, Dr. Lawrence Martin, of Pigeon Cove; her son, Kevin Baker, of New York City; her daughters, Melissa Baker, of Kennebunk, Maine, and Pamela Baker, of Chelmsford; her grandchildren, Zoe, Julian, and Griffin Baker, all of Kennebunk, Maine, and her many nieces and nephews.

"Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho' We are not now that strength which in old days Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are; One equal temper of heroic hearts, Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."

ARRANGEMENTS: A memorial service will be held at the First Congregational Church of Rockport, 15 School St., 11 a.m., on April 15. All are welcome. In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to the Huntington's Disease Society of America (www.hdsa.org).