Myron Alvin Baker

Born in St. Louis on January 30, 1930, Mike lived as an optimist, musician, Christian, and frequent world traveler despite (or perhaps because of) the challenges of his Midwestern upbringing during the Great Depression. He graduated from high school in Wisconsin after playing baseball and football, and enlisted in the Navy in 1949. After his Navy service he returned for a time to the Midwest where he played baseball until a job offer in southern California changed his life trajectory. He settled in southern California and married fellow Midwesterner Clara Zaharris, raising five children and eventually moving the family north to the San Francisco Bay Area. Mike rose in the ranks of business management for several California companies including Fairchild Camera and Instrument until his nomadic nature led him to begin again with several small technology, medical, and energy companies across the U.S. He remarried in 1979, and kept two households with Bridgette his wife, one in the Tampa St. Pete region of Florida and the other in Grass Valley, California. After Bridgette passed away in 2012, Mike moved to nearby Lincoln, CA joining the St. Joseph Catholic community and the Knights of Columbus. He continued to work part time despite his age, never being one to completely retire. His wit, wisdom, and eternal optimism will be greatly missed by his five children (Mike Jr. (Mattie) Baker, Greg (Valerie) Baker, Judy (Mike) Gaffney, Jane (Dave) Najour, and Therese (Pat) Bauer); his four step-children Rusty, Robin, Debbie, and Buck; and his numerous grandchildren and great grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests a donation to the Wounded Warrior Project http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/