Memorial services for James L. “Jack” Baker will be held Saturday at 1 p.m. at St. Paul Episcopal Church with interment service immediately following at St. Paul Episcopal Church Columbarium in Meridian with Rev. Walton Jones officiating. James F. Webb Funeral Home is in charge of the arrangements.
Mr. Baker, 89, of Meridian, died Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2009, at Anderson Hospital. He was in Winchester, Ark. He graduated from Warren High School in Warren, Ark. in 1938, and Southwestern State University in Weatherford, Okla. and Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. CWO Baker retired from the U.S. Army with over 26 years of service in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. He was a member of a Scout and Raider unit during World War II, serving in the South Pacific. He was a helicopter pilot and a master parachutist. He received numerous medals, including two Purple Hearts, Silver Star, Bronze Star, Air Medal and Soldiers Medal. After retirement he taught high school in Lawton, Okla. for 10 years and was President of Towne Moving and Storage in Lawton for several years; also he was the owner of Holiday Pools of Lawton. He was Past Master of Moriahyama Masonic Lodge, Tokyo, Japan; Shrine Hamasa Temple, 32nd Degree Scottish Rite, York Rite and Eastern Star. He worked as a General Foreman for Keahey Clearing Company, contractor for Alabama Power Company, retiring in 1992. He was an avid bass fisherman, and a former Junior and Senior Warden and lay reader in the Episcopal Church. He was a member of St. Pauls Episcopal Church in Meridian.
Survivors include his daughter, Sandra Baker-Alexander and her husband, Bill, of Butler, Ala.; son, Steven L. Baker and his wife, Linda, of Fairhope, Ala.; grandchildren, James L. Baker II and his wife, Laken, of Auburn, Ala., John T. Allen III of Pensacola, Fla., Anna A. Ezell and her husband, Brian, of Tuscaloosa, Ala., and Kelly Baker and his wife, Shelly, of Ocean Springs; great-grandchildren, Joshua, Colin and Lily Baker.
He was preceded in death by his wife of 53 years, Mary Keahy Baker; daughter, Patricia Baker;
parents, Linnie and MacRobert Baker; and two brothers, MacRobert and Joe B. Baker.
The family requests memorials be made to the Southern Choctaw Elementary School Library Memorial Fund, 10935 Highway 17, Gilbertown, Ala. 36908.
Family and friends may sign the online register book at www.jamesfwebb.com.
Visitation will be held Saturday, one hour prior to services at the church parish hall.
