Ted Baker

1917 - 2011

Ted Burton Baker, 93, passed from this life to heaven from cancer on Saturday, April 23, at his home in Waverly. He would have been 94 years old in June.
Ted was born on June 25, 1917, in Dayton, Mont., to Fredric Edward Baker and Florence Mary (Hoots) Baker. His brother, Donn F. Baker, was 4 years older. The family moved from Dayton, Mont., to Corning, Calif., then to a ranch in Janesville, Calif., where Ted finished grade school. Ted was baptized there in Baxter Creek at age 10. Ted attended Lassen High School in Susanville, Calif.
After high school, Ted worked for Standard Oil for about a year and worked on farms during harvest season maintaining equipment and loading crops on wagons.
He married Vivian Mae Hunt on June 24, 1939, in Willows, Calif. Ted and Vivian had a son, David Lynn Baker, born Sept. 8, 1940, who only lived one day, a grief they always remembered. Their son, Ted Eugene Baker, was born about a year before Ted was drafted into the Navy during WWII. Ted was sent overseas on March 17, 1945, to the South Pacific and served on Saipan. He was an aviation ordnance man 2nd class and served as an aerial gunner on a PBY doing SAR (search and rescue). He was discharged on Dec. 7, 1945.
After the war, Ted returned to Calif., built a home in Susanville and worked as a butcher and auto body mechanic. In 1947, after a scouting trip in 1946, the family moved to Alaska. Ted worked for ACS putting in phone poles up the ALCAN Highway. After that, he worked for the CAA which later became the FAA. While in the FAA, the family was stationed at: Katella, Bettles, Cordova, (where daughter, Mary Anna, was born), Talkeetna and Fairbanks. He ran a commercial fishing boat in Cordova.
After retiring from the FAA in 1971, Ted and Vivian traveled to the Philippines to assist missionary friends. They had a home built in Escondido, Calif. In 1976, Bakers built log cabins next door to each other in North Pole, Alaska. Not wanting to miss out on seeing their grandchildren grow up in Alaska, Ted and Vivian finally made their permanent residence in Fairbanks for many years on Senate Loop off of Farmer's Loop road.
After Vivian's death in September of 1997, Ted met and married Geneva (Ross) Maley, of Colo. They resided in Fairbanks until Geneva's death in September 2009, after which Ted moved to Waverly, in March 2010 to live with his daughter, Mary Anna.
Ted is survived by his son, Ted E. Baker (Elizabeth) of Fairbanks, Alaska; his daughter, Mary Anna Hunstiger of Waverly; five grandchildren; 11 great-grandchildren; a brother-in-law; sister-in-law and many nephews, nieces & loving friends.
He is also survived by Geneva's two daughters, Kathy Illum (Virgil) of Divide, Colo., and Lynn Gray (Walter) of Yuba City, Calif., and by former son in law.
Ted was preceded in death by his son David Lynn, his parents, his wife Vivian, his brother Donn, his second wife Geneva, and three brothers-in-law.
Visitation will be held on Thursday, April 28, from 5 to 7 p.m. at Kaiser-Corson Funeral Home in Waverly. A memorial service and reception will be held on Tuesday, May 3, from 3 to 6 p.m. at First Assembly of God church, 2830 Airport Way in Fairbanks, Alaska. Ted's body will be laid to rest with his wife Vivian at Northern Lights Cemetery in Fairbanks, Alaska.
The family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations be made for MCN International missions to the Philippines and Asia for the medical needs of the Mount Moriah Tribal Training School students, or to help with the school's agricultural program. Donations may be given through the Web site at www.mcni.org.