Marjorie Broderick Baker

A force to be reckoned with….These were the words my best friend and her husband used to describe my Mom. I think anyone who came into contact with my mother would agree that she was indeed spirited. Overwhelmingly so sometimes. When I sat down to write her obituary, many thoughts and words went through my head, but none seemed more appropriate than those six words.

Marjorie Broderick Baker was born on January 21, 1925. Though an only child, she had cousins and many friends who brightened her life as she did theirs. She attended Parsons School of Design and had a real eye for color palettes and furniture. On a shoestring budget, she could make a house look like a showroom. At a time when women depended on men to take care of them, my Mom was an independent woman. Soon after WWII ended, she boarded a marine jumper with several girlfriends and went to Europe where she traveled for several weeks. On the trip, she met and befriended Art Buchwald. Upon her return to the States, she worked and lived on her own in New York City. Several years later, she moved to Virginia, juggled a career, helped design and build a house, and took care of her mother and grandmother.

When she married my father, Joseph E. Baker in 1959, she had already lived an amazing and full life all on her own. She was a truly giving person. She donated her time and talents by building and painting sets for the Norfolk Children’s Theater, creating and posting beautiful hand drawn flyers and posters for many events and organizations, and working in her CHKD volunteer circle. After moving to Colorado Springs as an Octogenarian, she opened her home to her Strong Women “exercise girls” twice a week for years. She loved music and art and wanted to make the world a more beautiful place in everything she did. She made amazing flower arrangements, and whenever I came home, there were flowers in the front hall to welcome me.

My mom was an extraordinarily committed wife, mother, and grandmother. She supported my every activity. She and my father NEVER missed a single one of my basketball games--even when I was in my forties and played in the annual NCS Alumni games! My friends became part of our family, and despite her “Yankee” roots, she was the paradigm of Southern hospitality. Her pound cakes, cheesecakes, and ham dip were legendary! During her final days, she never failed to ask what news I had heard from friends “back home.” The first time my Mom met my boyfriend and now husband, Steve, she said she knew after just five minutes that she had just met her future son-in-law. She relished her role as a grandmother to our daughter, and even in her difficult last few months of life, her eyes always lit up when I brought news of Melanie. No matter how she was feeling, a smile crossed her face whenever I walked into her apartment.

Her caregivers were amazing people, yet they all said it was their privilege and pleasure to have spent time with a woman with such undeniable spunk. Even at 93, she was feisty and spirited...and definitely a force to be reckoned with!