Obituaries - Richard L. Baker

Richard (Dick) Leon Baker, age 100, passed away on September 25th in Winter Park, Florida. He was married to Sarah (Sally) Elizabeth Wisehart, from Hagerstown. Devoted husband, father, grandfather, colleague and friend, Dick’s kindness, positive attitude and warm sense of humor will be remembered by the many lives he touched.

Dick was an Army veteran, gardener, member of Rotary International and several organizations in Winter Park. He was always active, running track in high school and college, competing in the Olympic trials, and even snowshoeing in Yosemite while on a family vacation when he was 88. He enjoyed traveling the world with his beloved wife, Sally.

Born in Marion on November 22, 1916, to the late Lester and Harriett Baker, he graduated from Marion High School and Ball State University. He met Sally as a senior and they were married two years later at Nettle Creek Church of the Brethren.

While taking graduate courses at Butler University, he enlisted in the Army, where he served as First Lieutenant and Headquarters Commandant. Upon returning to the U.S. in 1945, he was assigned as an intelligence officer to Camp Stoneman, where he was joined by Sally.

Dick and Sally moved to Columbus, Indiana, where their two children, Kathryn and Keith, were born and where he worked at the Union Starch and Refining Company. After Columbus, he and his family lived in Arlington Heights, Illinois and then Chappaqua, New York. He became the Treasurer, VP-Finance and CFO of Reuben H. Donnelley Corporation and was active in civic and