Dorsey Lynn Baker

Dorsey Lynn Baker passed away on May 11 at the age of 88. He was born on May 26, 1936, in Plainview, Texas, to Wanda B. Baker and William Dorsey Baker. He was known as Dorsey Lynn to family and childhood friends, Dorsey to others and Baker to his wife, Charlyne.
Dorsey grew up in Lockney, Texas, with his older brother, William "Norton." Their parents were busy and hardworking, and Dorsey and Norton inherited their strong work ethic. Lura Stinebaugh, their maternal grandmother, helped raise the boys while their parents worked at multiple jobs in banking and agriculture.
Dorsey was a 1954 graduate of the New Mexico Military Institute, where he was known as Tex. He played football and boxed, winning the New Mexico Golden Gloves championship in the 147-pound weight class in his junior year. He attended Southern Methodist University for one year before receiving a Congressional appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point. At the academy, he was known as a hard worker and the strong silent type, and he won a brigade welterweight boxing championship. After graduating in 1959 with a Bachelor of Sciences degree, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant and completed infantry, cold weather, mountain and chemical corps training before he was posted to Korea's Demilitarized Zone.
After serving in Korea, Dorsey was honorably discharged in October of 1962. Proud of his service, he often said that he regretted his decision to leave the Army. He returned to Lockney and farmed with his father for a time before following his brother to law school. He graduated from Southern Methodist University Law School in 1966 and began his legal career as a patent examiner at the United States Patent and Trademark Office in Alexandria, Virginia. In the late 1960s, he was hired as a patent attorney by International Harvester in Chicago; his manager there recalled that Dorsey "knew what he was doing but didn't brag about it." He later filled the same role at Continental Can Company.
In 1972, Dorsey received both a Masters of Law degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Law and an MBA from the School of Business at The University of Chicago. The next year, he joined the law firm Haight, Hofeldt, Davis & Jambor. During his time as a partner at the firm, he both played an instrumental role in the largest patent-infringement judgment to that point and influenced how patent infringement damages are calculated. Over the course of his career, he worked on patent cases involving a wide-range of technologies, from oil drill bits to heating pads for newborn hogs to medical equipment. He left the firm in 1988, when he decided he had done enough lawyering to last a lifetime.
Dorsey worked tirelessly, but when he found time to unwind, he enjoyed watching football-especially Army, the Chicago Bears and the Dallas Cowboys-and riding the motorcycle he bought in his 40s. He also appreciated the occasional Manhattan.
Not long after he left the Army, Dorsey was eating lunch at a diner in Lockney, when he first saw Charlyne Marie Brown. Charlyne was home for the summer from Fort Worth, where she was an elementary school art teacher. Though both of them were from Lockney, and their parents knew one another, their paths had never crossed before that day. After a brief courtship, his first marriage proposal was rejected by Charlyne. But Dorsey continued to woo her, and on June 5, 1965, they were married at the First Baptist Church of Lockney. He always called Charlyne his beautiful bride.
Dorsey and Charlyne raised their daughters, Stacey and Kari, in the suburbs of Chicago, where they formed many life long friendships, but they always intended to return to Texas, and in 1989, they moved to Lubbock, where they helped care for their aging parents in nearby Lockney. Dorsey continued to do some legal work, but he was happiest driving his pickup through a pasture with its grazing ewes and their lambs. He and Charlyne shared a deep love of West Texas and spent their weekends at a farm in the South Plains community near where Charlyne grew up because why would anyone want to go anywhere else?
Dorsey is survived in death by Charlyne; his daughters Stacey Baker and Kari Steinhaus (Charles); four grandchildren, Paul Steinhaus, Mariah Steinhaus, Joshua Steinhaus (Emma), and James Steinhaus; sister-in-law Jane Minkley Baker; sister-in-law Joan Baker; nephew Richard Baker (Debby), niece Elizabeth Baker, and nephews Mark Minkley and David Minkley. He is preceded in death by his parents and brother Norton.
A private burial is planned. A memorial service will be held at 4:00PM on Sunday, May 25, 2025 at the South Plains Baptist Church. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be sent to The Salvation Army or the Wounded Warrior Project. (Moore-Rose Funeral Home -Lockney)