Reifel Baker 1915 - 1988

BAKER, HENGLAFELT

Posted By: Connie Swearingen (email)
Date: 10/13/2021 at 23:42:24

Sioux City Journal
23 May 1988

SERGEANT BLUFF - Reifel Baker, 72, of Sergeant Bluff, died Saturday, May 21, 1988, in a Sioux City hospital after a long illness.

Services will be at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Sergeant Bluff Community United Methodist Church with the Rev. Gary Marzolf officiating. Burial will be in Rock Branch Cemetery. Visitation will be 3-9 p.m. today with a prayer service at 7:30 p.m. in Christy Morningside Funeral Home.

Mr. Baker was born July 11, 1915, near Anthon, Iowa, and was a lifelong Woodbury County resident. He married Ruby Henglafelt April 30, 1944, in Anthon. The couple farmed in the Correctionville, Iowa, area for more than 50 years. In 1967, the family moved to Sioux City. He worked for Morningside College a number of years and still maintained his farming operation. He retired in 1980 and the couple moved to Sergeant Bluff in 1984. They spent 15 winters in Florida.

Mr. Baker was a member of Sergeant Bluff Community United Methodist Church. He had served on the church board at Grace United Methodist Church in Sioux City. He served a number of years on the Rutland-Kedron School board and was a member of the Cerulean Masonic Lodge of Anthon.

Mr. Baker was a livestock producer, feeder and farmer. He also was an avid soil conservationist. He began contouring his land in 1945, the first farmer in Woodbury County to do so. George B. Jerman from WNAX Broadcasting Station spent two days at the Baker farm broadcasting and promoting soil conservation.

Survivors include his wife; a son, Larry, and a daughter, Barbara Alsager, both of Sergeant Bluff; two sisters, Mrs. Leland (Joy) Mattson of Alta, Iowa, and Mrs. Lewis (Margaret) Gernhart of Kingsley, Iowa; three brothers, Eugene of Correctionville, Gilbert of Sheffield, Iowa, and Raymond of Long Beach, Calif.; four grandchildren; and a number of nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his parents, a brother, Howard, and a nephew, Philip.