My Dad’s sister: Orie Alice Baker was born 8 05 1860 and died 11 20 1954
My Dad: William Abner Baker was born 9 15 1866,died 04-11-1955. Occupation: Farmer, Realtor, Grocer.
William Abner Baker married Stela Dawson, born 02 6 1877. They were married 3-25-1903 and Stella died 05/06/1904 following a difficult child-birth.
My Mother: Beulah Ann DeWeese, Born on 05-25-1907, Died 11-28-1999.
Her father: Amos Levi, DeWeese,
Family of William Aldon Baker and Beulah Ann DeWeese
Father: William Aldon 9 15 1866
Mother: Beulah Ann Dewese: Born 05-25 -1907
Aldon DeWeese Baker: Born 8 15 1929
Rachel Ann Baker: Born: 12 28 1931
Elizabeth Jean Baker: Born 2 21 1929
Martha Jane Baker: Born 11 15 1934
Wiliam Abner Baker: Born 02 22 1936
Beulah Alice Baker: Born 2 15 43
My mom and dad were not the usual type of parents that most children grow up with. My Dad was forty-one years older than my mother. But age difference didn’t seem to bother either of them..
So how did they get together, you might ask.
Church is usually a great place for one to find other Christian friends and usually, friends close to their own age. Church is where our mom first saw her future husband. However, mom was not quite 12 years old at that time. She saw a man and a woman come in to church one Sunday and sat down together. She assumed that the lady was the man’s wife. Why would a 12 year old girl care who these two people were?
But for some reason, she was jealous of that woman who she thought was his wife. Well, life goes on, but God is in control of those of us who love our heavenly Father.
Several years went by and our mother learned who this couple really were. She learned that the woman was his sister.
Mom spent many hours with both Mr. Baker and his sister Orie.
Mom always said that she loved going over to their house, and Orie and her brother William Abner always loved having her come to visit. Orie said that having Beulah come over and sit and visit always made everything better.
All these visits became more and more often. Then, one day, coming home from church, my dad said to my mother. “You can set the date whenever you want to.”
Now that would seem strange to you and me, but there was no doubt to my mother about what my dad meant.
Remember, my dad was 41 years older than my mother!
Mom said that her parents were ok with her getting married to this older man since they had known him for years and gone to church with him. He visited them in their home, and best of all, in their eyes he was a wealthy man. They knew that their daughter would be treated right and given a lot of love.
So, the very next Sunday, after the regular church service, they walked down the aisle and were married by the preacher.
My Mom and Dad lived in Rushfield when they first got married and soon moved into a large house known as the Dunn house. They lived there for a few years before my dad decided to try something new. Dad, who was in the real estate business at the time, built and operated a grocery store in Rushfield. The store included living quarters behind the retail area and also on the second level. The family moved into that building.
My mom and dad lived in Rushville Missouri until around 1945 when they moved the family to a farm in Easton Missouri. This farm had no electricity and no outhouse.
I was so young, I don’t remember much about the farm. I have been told that since there was no electricity, they needed a stove that heated with wood for preparing meal and whatever else you might need.
This included bath water for the once-a-week bath for each person, and washing clothes. The clothes washer included a wringer that was turned by hand. I don’t remember any of this as all that hard work was when I was 3 to 5 years old. However, I do remember one time on bath day, after the bath water had been heated, I backed up and accidentally moved toward the bath water bucket. I sat down in that bucket of scalding hot water. I burned my bottom badly enough that mom and dad had to take me to the doctor.
We moved to Plattsburg Missouri around 1948. Because Mom did not put me in kindergarten, she taught me at home. I was quite ready to be taught and did well when I entered first grade. My teacher’s name was Miss White, and all the kids loved her. Miss Heflin was my second grade teacher and Miss Coplan was my third grade teacher. Even though I don’t remember the names of other teachers, I do remember always loving school.
I think I was probably about eight years old when Aldon returned from the Korean War, but I well remember an incident soon after his return. All the rest of the Baker kids always called our father “Pop,” but for some reason, I just called him “Dad.” I don’t remember ever being spanked or whipped, as W.A. frequently was. “We’re going to the cellar,” Dad would say to W.A., and we all knew what that meant.
I was a high-energy little girl. I tried hard to be well-behaved—partly because that was my nature, and partly because I never wanted to hear that dreaded proclamation:
“Beulah Alice, we’re going down to the cellar.”
Dad and Aldon were sitting together on the front porch of the Plattsburg house soon after Aldon’s return, and I was swinging high on the porch swing, loudly singing some childhood jingle. I think I was trying to impress my big, returning-home Marine brother.
“Beulah Alice, quiet down,” my father demanded.
Dad was about 85 years old at that time, so I can only imagine how hard it must have been for him to have the patience and nerves to deal with a high-energy eight-year-old daughter. I let the swing lose its momentum, and my singing dropped to only a whisper—for just a couple of minutes. Then my swing picked up speed again, and the faster it went, the louder my singing became.
“Beulah Alice,” came the agitated voice of my father, “we’re going down to the cellar.”
I knew what that meant. I was terrified and began to cry. “You will not take her to the cellar.”
The authoritative voice of this ex-Marine did not leave room for any argument. Dad looked stunned, mumbled something to Aldon, and retreated into the house.
After returning home from the Korean war,Aldon was able to get a job as an accountant in Saint Joseph Missouri. He soon met a country girl named Bonnie Frakes. I don’t remember how they met but Aldon and Bonnie Frakes got married in 1952. They had 3 children, William Howard (Billy), Diane, now married and manager of a large drugstore, and Kenney Baker who currently lives in Gower Missouri. (Note: Billy, who was a kind, loving boy, tragically drowned in Lake Contrary on July 23, 1986. He had been swimming there with his younger brother Kenney who, I’m sure, has never gotten over the trauma of this.)
Our home in Plattsburg was large but not large enough for our family at that time. The downstairs had a large kitchen for preparing food. Mom and dad’s bedroom was next to the kitchen. When their door was open, they could see into the kitchen. To the left side of their bedroom was the dining room. We ate, washed dishes, played games, read the Bible and, every night it was there that we, as a family, prayed on our knees.
I had a little bed, on which I spent the nights, in the corner of that dining room..
My three sisters shared a bedroom in the upstairs. Rachel was the oldest of my three sisters and Jean was only a year and two months younger. Both Rachel and Jean were able to find work after school
Rachel and Jean graduated a few years after we moved to Plattsburg. I was sad to see my two older sisters graduate, get married, and move out of our home.
The dining room was where we spent most of our family time together. As noted earlier, my bed was a small bed in a corner of the dining room. My brother, W. A. (William Abner) initially, before Mom could find a better place, had his bed in the large downstairs bathroom. Mom improvised for WA by putting up a curtain screen for him in that bathroom until, after a short period of time, he moved to his older brother’s bedroom upstairs.
My three sisters had a large bedroom upstairs and our Aunt Orie, our Dad’s sister, had a room upstairs for herself. Aldon, the oldest of our family, was working in St. Joe and was rarely home to declare it as his room. so WA finally had a bedroom to call his own..
Remember, we had no bathroom at the farm in Easton from which we had moved, but now we had a bathroom downstairs and upstairs and both had real bathtubs. These bathtubs were a real treat to each of us.
In our new Plattsburg home we had a barn and that allowed us to have a couple of cows.. Mom did the milking, and that provided milk for us to drink as well as milk which we took to market. That milk money was an added benefit. We now had chickens and a large pasture. There was a fence at the end of the pasture and, just beyond that, was the Plattsburg high school.
Every fourth of July there was a great fireworks show in the high school yard, and we had a ring-side seat right from our home. Friends gathered at our home to join us in our ring-side seats.
Rachel got a job at a hardware store and Jean got a job at a restaurant.
Rachel and Jean were determined to make enough money for Mom to have a refrigerator.
With help from her siblings plus a discount for working at the hardware store, they were able to buy our mother her first refrigerator. She was very excited. Up until this time, she had an ice box that needed to be refilled every few days to keep food cold.
One by one, my sisters were getting married and leaving home.
Our home became much different now that the girls were gone and married..
Beside our home, there was a large two-story building with a garage. The large area upstairs could be used for storage or for whatever purpose we wanted. However, the best part for me and Billy, my best friend and neighbor, was the smaller attached room which was empty, so we turned it into our playhouse. It had a dirt floor which Billy and I kept swept the best we could. Billy would come over to our playhouse, and we would play there for a while, and then we would play in his sand box. We were best friends.
WA hated school and did everything he could to avoid it, including running away. This resulted in him getting many whippings. So, back to the farm we went. Our dad thought that living on the farm and working hard would be good for WA.. My Dad moved us back to a farm near Stewartsville Missouri.
.Once on the farm,WA attended school and did not run away as he had been doing in Plattsburg. He seemed ok at the farm.
I was in the fifth grade when we moved to Stewartsfield. Although we were now over 20 miles apart, I did not forget Billy, and he came to visit me on the farm when he could. When he did, we enjoyed going to the barn and climbing up the ladder to the upper level. This area was used to store hay that was gathered for the cows for those times when there was insufficient grass for them. Mom also used the hay to put in the stall while she milked the cow.
Billy and I loved jumping into the hay that had been put up unbailed.
Although now separated by more than 20 miles, we continued to keep in touch and were still best friends.
A few years later, Billy, with other friends, was in a car which was in a bad accident. He was killed. News of that broke my heart. It was the hardest message I ever got.
I was in fifth grade at the time we moved from Plattsburg Missouri to living on the farm. The move was probably good for my brother WA and he soon found a girlfriend. Both he and his girlfriend,Agness, who he had met at church, were very young. Nonetheless, they married. They lived with us for a short time.
My Dad, William Abner Baker passed away on April 11, 1955. I was eleven years old at that time. Four of my siblings had been married for a few years and WA, now married, was still living on the farm with me and my Mom.
Mom thought we should move to St. Joe Missouri so that she could find work to support us. So, that is what we did. I think I was in sixth grade by this time. Mom was able to find work and was now able to pay to have her hair done. She enjoyed that and enjoyed the shop in which she had it done.
Well, on one of those visits to get her hair done, the beautician mentioned to my mom that she should meet her dad. He was a few years older, maybe 12 or 13 years, but that was of no concern to Mom. Eventually, the beautician arranged for them to meet. They met. It was not long before they were married.
I was almost 13 by this time. I was not very happy about this move or the marriage because, when I was going to school in Stewartsville I had gone to school with this man’s grandchildren. His grandchildren lived across the road from where he lived. When they came to school, they were often dirty and smelled bad.
Well, we moved back to the home in Stewartsville which we had left and was still vacant. My mom married this man. So, I was shipped off to Grandma’s for a few weeks in the summer. That was fine with me since I got to go to a great church camp..
School was about to start and I did not want to return to Stewartsville and school there. So, I went to live with my oldest brother, Aldon and his family. The closest school to where Aldon lived had only two rooms with the first four grades in one room and the other four in the second room. I can’t say I went to school in a one-room school, but it was close to it. Surprisingly, this arrangement worked well and I, with just a few others, graduated from the eighth grade.
For our graduation ceremony, we all went to Rushville and joined other eighth graders from that school. Our small group gathered with others graduating from Rushville for the ceremony. I was supposed to sing a duet with a boy from our school. I was scared to death and forgot the words.. I tried to look like I was singing. I’ve never been so embarrassed in my whole life.
Well, it was now summer, and I went back to Stewartsville where my mom and her new husband, Willard, were now living in Willards house. Willard’s house was a one bedroom. So where was I to sleep? Mom figured out that there was a room that could be made into my room. The problem was that there was no privacy in that room as you came into the house from the back door. Mom made a divider, and built a closet for me. So, eventually, I had a room that worked ok. Willard’s house was not nearly as nice as Mom’s house. I don’t remember why they moved there.
That summer, I was fortunate to be able to get a job working at the drug store. I was paid only around 25 cents per hour or so, but that was good as far as I was concerned. I really enjoyed working there and I know that Willard and my mom were glad I was at the house less often..
Well, what can a 14-year-old do but try to make the best of it. I was going to be a freshman when I went back to school.
After that summer, I guess there were many problems between Willard and my mom and Mom realized that their marriage was not working. They were subsequently divorced.
Mom left Willard and we moved back to St. Joe. Initially, we lived for a few months in a small apartment in which we had to share the bathroom with another tenant. But then, fortunately, Mom found a small house behind a big house on 17th street. Although it had only two rooms, it was satisfactory for our needs. It was close to the Copeland Baptist Church so we soon commenced going to church there.
We had not returned to St. Joe for very long before I began working at the United Clothing Store.. The people there liked me, and I liked them. They wanted me to represent their store at the Spring Apple Blossom Parade. I wore a beautiful dress from the store and enjoyed waving at all the people as they called me the Apple Blossom Queen.
I also liked taking advantage of being able to watch provessional wrestling since United Department Store sponsored this on week-ends on KFEQ-TV.
All this was fun while it lasted. But life moves on.
This was the summer of 1959.
My sister Rachael’s husband operated a Chiropractic business in in Kansas City, Kansas. The family lived upstairs of the Chiropractic business. During that summer I worked for him in his office. I liked being his helper and working with his customers. On weekends, I took the bus back to St. Joe. This lasted till school was ready to start.
Soon after moving to the house on 17th street, I met Mary Ellen Walker at church and she soon became my best friend.. We went to Bible classes with others our age and visited together at one another’s house. I particularly enjoyedspending time at Mary Ellen’s home.
Well, one weekend Jerry, Mary Ellen’s brother, came home from his new job in St. Louis. He was bored and didn’t know what to do. His mother said, “Mary Ellen has a nice new friend, why don’t you call her.” His answer was something like “No, I don’t think so. She’s too young”.
Well, unknown to his mom, he did call me and invited me to go with him to visit and have dinner with a young couple, Larry and Dianna Klein, from church. Larry was his age and the two of them had been good friends since the fourth grade. The Kleins had two little kids.
I knew that couple from church and felt safe spending some time with Jerry, who I had never yet met, at their home. How could I say no. So, he picked me up in his new company car, a blue 1960 Ford. Before the evening ended, Jerry suggested we all go to the arrow shooting range. I had no Idea how to use a bow. I hurt my arm on the first try when the arrow gave me a bad burn. Jerry felt really bad that I hurt myself on our first date.
Of course, when you have little ones like the Kleins, with no one to watch them, the kids go along with mom and dad. We had gone to the shooting range in Larry’s rather small car and Jerry and I, and the kids shared the back seat.The little ones were doing their best to push us ever closer together.
The next day, Jerry picked me up and we went to Cool Crest,the miniature golf court in St. Joseph Jerry won a free game and put it in his billfold and has kept it there till this very day. Pretty well worn out but as far as I know he still has it. It’s unfortunate that Cool Crest is no more.
We also went to the trampoline area. I was impressed by Jerry’s skill in doing flips. I thought he was showing off just for me..
Needless to say, we hit it off together right away.
Jerry worked for Calgon and had a new company car in which he traveled on business from Missouri to Kentucky to Indiana. drove all over the area plus most weekends he drove to his parent’s home on Friday late and left on Sunday a little late. I remember, one weekend, he finished work in Kentucky early on Friday and then drove non-stop to St. Joe and made it before dark.
During the week we wrote to each other. It was only a couple of months before he proposed to me.
As I remember, my mother advised me that I should tell him
yes or no. Of course it was yes.
We were married on November 5, 1960.
Following the ceremony, we accompanied Pastor Steel to his office for signing of the marriage certificate. We didn’t have it! Pastor Steel said, “I guess without that, you aren’t legally married.” Fortunately, I knew we had it and we had left it at Mom’s house on 17th street. Jerry made a quick dart up the street and soon returned with the marriage license in hand.
Almost 65 years later, I have never regretted my ‘Yes’answer! Our love has endured and continues to grow stronger every day.
I am so thankful that I have been married to my best friend for almost 65 years. I could not have found a better partner to spend my years on this earth with than Jerry. When we married, I was only 17 years old and had just started my senior year at Lafayette High School in north St. Joe. Jerry helped me finish my senior year and in May of 1961 I graduated from high school in Webster Groves,a St. Louis suburb.
In the summer of 1969, Jerry was transferred into Calgon’s headquarters in Pittsburgh PA. For the first couple of years in Pittsburgh I enjoyed being a mother and housewife, but then came a time when Jerry encouraged me to go to college. I enrolled in the University of Pittsburgh and, fortunately for us, Mom came to live with us and help watch the kids while Jerry and I were both away. It’s a good thing she did, because I became pregnant and gave birth to a beautiful bouncing baby boy in July of 1974. I graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 1976 with a degree in education and began teaching remedial reading at one of the Moon Township elementary schools. I later switched to teaching the first grade and I liked that a whole lot better.
. I took a year’s sabbatical in the school year ’98 to ’99 and then retired after the 2000 school year. Jerry had already taken early retirement, except for continuing to work part time for awhile, in June of 1992.
We planned, and carried through with our plans, for me to work only one more year after my sabbatical. Although we had built a beautiful home in Moon Township only a few years previously, we sold it and bought a much older but even larger home on Susan Road on the Lake of the Ozarks. This home was right on the water toward the end of McCoy Cove which is at the 2 Mile Mark of Lake of the Ozarks. We liked being on the water, but we also liked going to Florida during the cold winter months. We did not like the work and upkeep required by owning a large water-side home. That’s why we sold the big house and bought what, then-vacant, a building just across the road which had been originally built as a child-care center. Our imaginations, along with that of construction friend Ed Scarff, could see that building remodeled into a comfortable home. At a cost much higher than we had anticipated, it is now our comfy three-bedroom, three-bath home.
At the time of this writing, I, at age 82, am the only one left of our William Aldon Baker family. But I feel good and feel loved by my husband, my four children, my sixteen grandchildren, and my twenty-two great grandchildren..
Life has its good times and its not so good. But, as I look back on my life, it has been mostly good.
Thank you, Jesus, that you are in control.