Obituary of Mary Agnes Baker

Mary Baker: 1928 - 2019

Mary Agnes Humphrey was born in 1928, in Lewistown, the geographic center of Montana. She married Lyle Dwight Baker when she was 14 and headed for Minnesota. Over the next 16 years they had six children. - Mary, Rosie, Lyle, Lou, LeRoy, and Cheryl. Mary left our world from Tacoma, Washington on May 26, 2019. She is survived by her younger sister Madelyn, her daughter Rosie; three sons, four grandchildren, six great grandchildren and her cat, Joy.

Mary lived in Tacoma, in the five-star rated SHAG, Senior Housing Assistance Group, Conservatory Place apartments for the last nine years of her life. Her son Lyle, Sharen, the manager and several of her co-residents helped her maintain independent living status well beyond her capacity to do so on her own. She was strong-willed, even as her body failed and she moved in and out of hospitals and nursing homes. Mary always bounced back, a little more frail each time. At the end her heart was weak; her mind was not always reliable and her kidneys failed her.

Mary was strong, determined and resilient. Cooking was at the top of her long list of skills and interests. She loved animals - cats, dogs, horses, mules, and buffalo. Once she had a pet monkey named Oscar. She enjoyed thrift shops, country western music, casinos, pow-wows, anything Hawaiian, mysteries, folklore and going for rides - anywhere, no matter how long or short. Her first five children grew up in Washington state - Renton, Seattle, Tacoma, and Whidbey Island. Lyle Sr. worked at the Pepsi plant in Tacoma and Mary worked at Scotty's Restaurant. In 1969, Lyle, Mary and Cheri moved to Hawaii. Mary was perfectly suited to Hawaii - the people, food, music, beaches, forests, plants, stories, history and Merry Monarch Festivals.

Lyle died suddenly while playing golf in 1979. The Waikiki Health Center where Mary volunteered, hired her as a receptionsist and she became an integral part of the team. In 1989, she retired and moved to Olympia to be near her son Lyle and to help Cheri go back to college. When Cheri married, Mary headed for Frenchtown, Montana to cook for her friend who was starting an outfitter business. Cowboys, horses, a few mules, dogs, a cat named Joy, country music, room and board, and paid to cook. When she began to wear out, she came back to Washington. Her last job was dog sitting an over protective Yorkie named Bennie.

In 2010, Mary found the SHAG and you all know the rest of the story.