Dorothea Elizabeth Speakman Baker

Born October 13, 1927 in Philadelphia County, PA, she was the daughter of the late Jesse Alan Speakman and Marie Augusta Dorothea Ravior Speakman.

A devoted and loving wife, mother, grandmother and great grandmother, Dorothea was a member of New Jerusalem Lutheran Church and retired as secretary of the Ocean City NJ Board of Education. She enjoyed music, singing, and dancing. After graduating high school in 1945, Dorothea was trained at the University of Pennsylvania to work as a computational analyst for the Army Ballistics Research Division in Philadelphia. She also held responsibilities as a computer technician on the first digital computer called ENIAC.

In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by a brother, G. Alan Speakman; a sister, Ruth M. Speakman and 2 great grandchildren, Benjamin and Alexander Forbes.

Those left to cherish her memory are her husband of 68 years, Charles S. Baker, III; daughter, Janet B. Hassing and husband Finn of Hickory; sons, William W. “Bill” Baker and wife Patsie of Lexington, NC and Alan C. Baker and wife Barbara of Alamogordo, NM; grandchildren, Kristin Rhyne and fiancé, Tony Fernetti, Katherine Bryan and husband Kwame, Kevin Baker and wife Jenn, Jen DeLong and husband Joshua, Kristi Forbes and husband Robert, Emilie Biddle and husband Compton, C. Lucas Hassing and Peter Hassing; great grandchildren, Max and Ava Rhyne, Kellan and Kohen Bryan, Naomi, Miriam, Lillian and Rebekah DeLong, Isaiah and Lenna Moon, and Compton, Finley and Charlotte Biddle; and sister-in-law, Janice Speakman of New Oxford, PA.

There are no services planned at this time.

The family requests memorial contributions be given to Catawba Regional Hospice, 3975 Robinson Road, Newton, NC 28658 or New Jerusalem Lutheran Church, 2120 Startown Road, Hickory, NC 28602.