Mrs. W. N. Baker

BAKER

Posted By: Sharon Elijah (email)
Date: 4/24/2016 at 08:00:38

18 September 1924 - The Tipton Advertiser

Death of Former Tipton Resident
Mrs. W.N. Baker, of Cherokee, Iowa, Dies in Hospital at Sioux City

News of the death of Mrs. W. N. Baker, a former resident of the South Bethel community, has brought sorrow to the many friends of the family here.

The Cherokee Times says:
The funeral services for Mrs. W. N. Baker, held at Washta, Thursday morning, were a beautiful tribute to the memory of a woman who had devoted her life's service to the good of others and in the upbuilding of the community along the lines of higher ideas. Large numbers, some of them from long distances, came to pay tribute to one who to them had not only been a friend but also helper.

At an early age she moved with her parents to the town of Britt, where she grew to young womanhood. She graduated from the high school there June 2, 1898. Two years were spent at the State Normal at Cedar Falls. This was followed by a year of teaching in a country school. The next year she completed her work at the normal and graduated from that institution in 1902. The following six years were spent in teaching in the public schools of Reading, Minn., where her parents had moved, and at Britt and Wesley, Iowa.

She resigned her high school principalship at the latter place because of her approaching marriage to W. N. Baker. This took place on March 10, 1908, at the home of her parents at Reading, Minn. Together they went directly to Mt. Vernon, Iowa, where they both took up college work, and at which time, they also began their life in the Methodist ministry by taking a student appointment at Morley, Iowa.

At the end of two years they were transferred to Tipton circuit in the middle of the conference year. They remained here three and a half years, then two years at Low Moor, Iowa, two at Mechanicsville, one at Buck Creek, three at Rembrandt and three at Washta.

Her home and children occupied the supreme place in her life. With her motherhood was far more than an instinct. It was a profession, her greatest opportunity for serving both God and humanity. Often when confronted by a seeming conflict of duty she would remark "I haven't strength for both. My children and my home come first." The home found its center in her, and she found her highest ambition in the home. She was a wonderful mother. She gave four sons and a daughter to the world. Weldon Nicholas born at Mt. Vernon, July 15,'09; Mary Elizabeth at Tipton, July 31, 1911; Francis Ackerman, born at Low Moore, December 10, 1914, Carl Edmund, born at Mechanicsville, November 13, 1916; Philip Henry, born at Washta, November 28, 1921.

Her home and children did not exclude other interests however. They came first, but of what remained of her strength she gave to, and beyond her limit, first to the church and then to the community. On every charge on which she had labored with her husband, her quiet patience, her eveness of temper, her devotion to her home and family, her energy, her industry, her philosophy of life that enabled her to face life's dangers without fear, and its duties without flinching or complaint, raised up for her a host of friends, who, while their hearts are filled with sorrow at the loss that is theirs, are at the same time filled with an unspeakable joy at the great gain that has come to them in having been able to call her "Our Friend."