Wendy Baker

A beloved teacher, mental health professional, wife, mother, sister, friend, and woman of faith, Wendy Baker poured herself out for others in all she did. Her questions – always from a place of compassion and genuine curiosity – helped you find answers and inevitably left you knowing more about yourself and how to move ahead. She, too, was always moving ahead by learning – and sharing – more: about nursing, cooking (oh, how she could cook), biking, the outdoors, prayer, poetry, music, life.

Wendy's radiant and quietly joyful life with us ended far too soon. Born in Lubbock, Texas to Marilyn Hesse Baker and Deane Baker, she died Sunday as the result of a hit-and-run incident while cycling with her husband and friends in Yakima County.

She loved it here: the land, the mountains, the sun, and most of all Yakima's people and community, where she could contribute her talents. Wendy touched countless lives, strengthening the nursing program at Yakima Valley Community College as instructor and director, volunteering at the Yakima Union Gospel Mission Medical Care Center, counseling patients as a psychiatric nurse practitioner, teaching as an adjunct professor of nursing at the University of Washington, and being a devoted neighbor and friend, a fellow worshiper at Central Lutheran Church and Temple Shalom, ski patrol member at White Pass, and in so many other ways we are only beginning to see as friends, students, and co-workers share their stories to comfort us and each other.

Wendy truly delighted in meeting and caring for others. She kept learning so she could keep serving, from her childhood in Michigan through her studies at Vanderbilt University and the Universities of Michigan and Washington, enriched by training as a spiritual director. She traveled the country and the world, backpacking, biking, skiing, and exploring. All were treasured times with family and friends.

Gather with us at The Seasons Performance Hall, 101 N. Naches Ave, 2:00 pm, Friday, June 17, to remember Wendy. In lieu of flowers, we gratefully welcome donations to the Nursing Scholarship Program at Yakima Valley College to be established in Wendy's name. Please contact nursing@yvcc.edu?for more information. Memories and condolences can be shared at www.brooksidefuneral.com.

Neil Barg (Yakima), Ben Barg (Brooklyn NY), Jamie Baker Knauss (New York, NY) and Betsy Baker (Anchorage, AK). Wendy is preceded in death by her parents and her brother John Deane Baker.