RAYMOND GERALD BAKER
July 30, 1918 – June 18, 2014
Gerald Baker, an AUHS Class of ’36 grad, was born to James A. and MaeBelle Baker on their citrus ranch located on West Broadway near Magnolia St. in Anaheim. He attended Magnolia Elementary School (now Maxwell) where Mattie Lou Maxwell was his teacher and coach.
Gerald married Eleanor Becker in 1939 and they celebrated 55 years of marriage before Eleanor’s passing in 1994.
During World War II, Gerald served in the U.S. Navy and was deployed to the Pacific Fleet, serving on a Minesweeper. He was severely wounded when the ship was sunk near Borneo and was presented The Purple Heart.
Gerald worked for most of his adult life on Signal Hill, Long Beach, in various positions with the oil industry. He was a lifelong member of the Anaheim Christian Church where he served on the Board, taught Sunday school and sang in the choir.
A life-long resident of Anaheim, Gerald came from a family of Colonists. His father, James Baker is an Anaheim graduated who taught at Centralia Elementary in Anaheim in 1912, became the first Superintendent of Schools for the La Habra district and served as an Orange County Supervisor.
Gerald’s uncle Arthur was in Anaheim’s second graduating class (1902), and three of Gerald’s siblings graduated from Anaheim, as did his wife, Eleanor Becker (1937), and their sons, John (1958) and Bob (1959).
(Incidentally, Gerald’s mother, Mae Belle Dickenson Baker, who attended but didn’t graduate from AHS, had a sister who married John King, the writer of Anaheim ’s alma mater.)
While at Anaheim High, Gerald served was senior class vice president, ran track, played baseball, acted in school plays and sang in the Mozart Choir and Boys’ Quartet.
Gerald was preceded in death by his wife, Eleanor and son, John Edward. He is survived by son, Robert Paul; daughter-in-law, Charlene; seven grandchildren and sixteen great grandchildren.
Gerald was a kind gentleman, faithful to God, his family and country; he will be greatly missed by all who love him!
