Karen Walton Baker

With the passing, on Friday, September 21, 2018 of Karen Baker, the City of Birmingham and its surrounding communities lost a wonderful friend who worked tirelessly with single-minded devotion on behalf of the area’s disadvantaged school children.

For 22 years, Karen was associated with Assistance League Birmingham, and for most of that time she was a driving force behind Operation School Bell, one of the Assistance League’s most prominent philanthropic programs. Operation School Bell was chartered to provide clothing, personal care products, and school supplies for children in need within the Birmingham Metro Area. Karen was instrumental in soliciting and receiving grants from local businesses to fund Operation School Bell, but she didn’t stop there. She brought to bear her organizational and management skills to develop great working relationships among and between vendors, supporters, volunteers, and school officials. Through her efforts and the efforts of those she mentored and inspired, Karen helped ensure that local school children from challenging economic backgrounds could go to school with pride and with fewer obstacles to achieving their best educational outcomes.

Karen’s primary motivation for devoting so much time and energy to this effort was simply her love of children and the desire to see them reach their full potential. It was a love that led her into teaching and that she nurtured through ten years of teaching history to middle-schoolers in Virginia and Ohio before culminating in her work in directing and supporting Operation School Bell. Her love for and commitment to young people was also exemplified by one of her favorite quotes:

"A hundred years from now, it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove...but the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child." [Forest E. Witcraft]

Karen’s efforts have been memorialized with two Assistance League awards that recognize her as perfectly exemplifying the loving heart that is at the center of the Operation School Bell program. She was a woman of substance who will be greatly missed by her friends, associates, and the many children she served in the community.

Karen grew up in the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, DC, where she met her future husband, Charles E. Baker, during their senior year at Washington-Lee High School in Arlington. Charlie was an athlete and Karen a cheerleader, which made for a natural match. After a several-year break while

Karen earned a degree from Longwood College in Virginia and Charlie served in the U.S. Air Force, including a tour in Viet Nam, the two found each other again and were married on June 28, 1969. Thus began a journey that would take the couple around the country as Charlie rose to the executive ranks during his 37-year career with the Xerox Corporation. As her husband pursued his career, Karen took the opportunity to lay the foundation for a life well-lived. In addition to teaching middle school and later working in retail for a number of years, she took time to enjoy her hobbies of flowers and gardening and traveling with Charlie to historic hotels and places, a favorite of which was Grove Park Inn in Asheville, NC. She also loved animals (especially her Yorkie, Sophie) and sports cars (especially her red roadster).

Karen is survived by her loving husband of 49 years, Charlie Baker of Birmingham; brother, Charles Walton (Monique) of St. Petersburg, FL; brother- and sister-in-law William and Peggy Baker of Culpepper, VA; and numerous nieces and nephews around the country. She was preceded in death by her parents, Charles S. and Anne Walton of St. Petersburg, FL; and sister, Georgianne Pleasant (Jack) of McLean, VA.

The family will receive friends from 10-11 a.m. on Monday, October 8, 2018 at Ridout's Southern Heritage Funeral Home in Pelham, Alabama, immediately followed by A Celebration of Karen's Life at 11 a.m. in the funeral home's chapel. After the service, the family will host a reception at the funeral home.

Karen will eventually be reunited with Charlie, and the two will be interred together at Arlington National Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in Karen’s memory to Operation School Bell, Assistance League Birmingham, 1755 Oxmoor Road, Birmingham, AL 35209.