James Alan Baker

In our dreams houses represent ourselves; our minds and bodies. They are a representation of the memories and experiences that make us uniquely who we are. In James Alan Baker's life there were many houses. There were the literal houses he lived in, and there were the internal houses where he kept his deeply sensitive inner life and God given talent.

His family; Donna Roylance Baker, mother, and father Gary W Baker, brothers Aaron, Josh, and Sam, and his sisters Mirinda Baker Bissonet and Kimberly, knew him and the houses he lived in well. He was born in Hill Air force Base on February 27th, 1974. His parents took him home to a small white house nearby.

Gary was a carpenter and James in his younger years was always more fascinated with the plans to build the house than the labor it took to build it. Always wildly creative, and a little different, James decided college and fine art was the house he wanted to live in. He graduated in 1996 from the University of Utah with his degree in fine arts, the first in his family to do so where he focused on mixed media.

He lived many places, in many different houses, impacting people with his kindness and quirky sense of humor. Through it all, he created beautiful amazing works of art. He innovated techniques. In life, there is talent and there is skill, which only comes with practice. James Alan Baker was a talented and skilled master of his craft, although he would often deny that.

Towards the end of his life he lived in a peach house in Syracuse, Utah with his mother and father. Always independent, he often kept to himself, but he loved his family above all else. It was there he was able to experience the joy of his younger nieces, nephews and other relatives. Often working on art projects or teasing them, straight faced, to elicit a tiny giggle because that sound made him so happy. It was also in that peach house that he experienced true loss when his father, Gary, passed. Great tragedy can bring out the best in us, and James was often the comforter, bringing sweet comfort to his mother, Donna, when she needed it most.

James was pretty handy to have around, and he knew how to fix many things, but his body, his temple, his house, was the only one he couldn't. He struggled greatly with his physical health. In his art you will often find depictions of rundown buildings juxtaposed with faint yet perfect architectural lines. Those houses were James' body and he always had plans to perfect it. He wanted it to be better than it was. Now James is at peace with his body, he is no longer in pain. He is with his father in heaven drawing grand plans for an eternal home they are building together.

We will always remember James as that twinkle in his sky blue eyes. The one he got when he was "just kidding" or winning a game or getting ready to create. That was the look James had when he felt love. James is forever loved and remembered for the great beauty he held inside. We will miss him, now and always.

Graveside services will be held Tuesday, February 9th, 2021 at 1 PM at the Syracuse Cemetery in Davis County Utah.