Eloyce McConnell Baker of Corpus Christi, Texas, formerly of Colorado Springs, Colorado, passed into her Heavenly Father’s arms on August 14, 2021 at the age of 101. Eloyce began life with her twin sister Elayne on March 7, 1920 in Palo Pinto, Texas. They were the first-born children of Maude Bryan McConnell and Joseph Carroll McConnell. Eloyce spent her early years in Palo Pinto and Fort Worth, Texas. As a young child, Eloyce often accompanied her father while he gathered oral histories from early Texas pioneers for his history books. In her teens, she campaigned with her father and sisters when her father ran for county and state offices. She moved to Austin with her family when her father served two terms in the Texas legislature. While there, Eloyce and her twin Elayne were elected Sweethearts of the House of Representatives.
Eloyce graduated from high school in Mineral Wells, Texas and entered Texas Christian University in Fort Worth in 1939. After one year she returned home when lack of finances curtailed her education. Eloyce entered the workforce and helped support her large family for several years before meeting the man who would become her husband, Joe Henry Baker, Jr. They married on June 26, 1946 in Fort Worth after his return from fighting in WWII. They enjoyed 57 years of wedded life until his death in 2004.
Joe’s career in US Air Force Civilian Personnel organizations took the family to Newport News, Virginia for 21 years and then to Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he ultimately retired. The pair raised four children while living in Virginia and it was their supreme goal to put all of them through college. Eloyce was the consummate homemaker and Joe the breadwinner. Throughout life both were extremely active in their church, serving as Sunday school teachers, choir singers, and ordained congregational leaders. Eloyce was passionate about the Bible and her faith, passing that faith on to her family. She conducted weekly Bible studies for friends in her living room for many years. Eloyce loved to read and taught all her children to be avid readers. She was the ideal mother, devoted and sacrificial to the needs of her children. In later years she loved to spend time reading and hand embroidering.
After retirement Eloyce and Joe spent many happy hours camping, fishing, and sightseeing in the beautiful Rocky Mountains surrounding their adopted hometown of Colorado Springs, Co. Their grown children and grandchildren visited often and knew they would be rewarded with sumptuous meals and Joe’s guided tours of Colorado. Other family members such as their parents, siblings, and nieces and nephews were also frequent visitors and Joe and Eloyce loved to host and entertain. They were enamored of the beauty and climate of Colorado and lived there for over 30 years. At age 86, after being widowed and suffering a decline in health, Eloyce moved in with her daughter and son-in-law in Corpus Christi, Texas. She lived with them for 15 years until her death.
Eloyce was preceded in death by her parents (Mr. & Mrs. J. Carroll McConnell); her husband; sisters Elayne McConnell Tatsch; Laura McConnell Holcomb, and Charlotte McConnell Riha; brother J. Bryan McConnell; sisters-in-law Claudia Gwynn and Mary Elizabeth Clark, and several brothers-in-law. She is survived by sister Carolyn McConnell Remesat of Austin, TX and brother-in-law Donald Gwynn of Overton, TX. She is also survived by sons David A. (Barbara) Baker of Colorado Springs, Clifford L. (Sandy) Baker of Arlington, Texas, and Douglas A. (Patti) Baker of Ft. Worth, Texas, as well as daughter Barbara B. (George) Leal of Corpus Christi, Texas. She has seven grandchildren: Bobbie (Bill) Lahey, John Chermack, and Michael (Alyce) Chermack of Colorado Springs, Colorado; Jason (Jane) Baker of Portland, OR; Christopher (Rhyana) Baker and Jonathan (Krissy) Baker, of the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and Sarah (Clayton) Weaver of Flomaton, Alabama. She has 15 great-grandchildren and many loving nieces and nephews.
Special thanks go to Eloyce’s long-time caregiver, Patricia Nelson of Corpus Christi, TX as well as to her loving son-in-law George Leal, at whose insistence Eloyce lived out her days with them.
