Bonner Baker Moffitt

Bonner Means Baker Moffitt, a Houston native known for her determined spirit and enduring grace, died peacefully in her sleep on the 17th of October, in Baltimore, where she had lived for the last 40 years.

Born in Houston on the 6th of November 1931, Bonner was the daughter of James A. Baker Jr. and Bonner Means Baker. Her grandparents were Captain James A. Baker and Alice Graham Baker and John Coalter Means and Stella Bonner Means.

From kindergarten through 10th grade, Bonner attended The Kinkaid School when it was located on Richmond and Graustark streets only a few blocks from her home on Bissonnet Street. She was beloved by her classmates for her many acts of kindness. An outstanding athlete, she was an accomplished swimmer and played tennis at a local championship level. She was also a class officer at Kinkaid.

Bonner graduated high school from the Madeira School in McLean, Virginia in 1949. The following fall she enrolled in Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. As a sophomore, she attended The University of Texas at Austin and pledged the Pi Beta Phi sorority there. A year later, she returned to Smith, where she graduated with honors in 1954.

She then went home to Houston, made her debut at an Assembly ball and was later membership secretary for The Museum of Fine Arts. She also worked on political campaigns.

In 1960, she married Donald Moffitt, a Yale University graduate and reporter for The Houston Post who later worked for the Wall Street Journal. His career took them to New York City and San Francisco. The couple were divorced in 1970. For many years after her divorce, Bonner lived in Columbia, Maryland.

Bonner is survived by her brother, James A. Baker, III, and his wife, Susan Baker, of Houston; a niece, Mary Bonner Baker Perrin of Los Angeles; and four nephews, James A. Baker, IV of Washington, Stuart McHenry Baker of Houston, John Coalter Baker of Houston, and Douglas Bland Baker of Washington. She is also survived by her close friend, Francita Stuart Ulmer of Houston, and her close friend and loving caregiver, Jeanne Merdek of Atlanta.

A memorial service for family members and friends of Bonner will be conducted at twelve o’clock noon on Saturday, the 24th of October, in the Chapel of St. Martin’s Episcopal Church, 717 Sage Road in Houston, where the Rev. Dr. Russell J. Levenson Jr., is to officiate. Prior to the memorial service, an interment service is to be conducted at half-past ten o’clock in the morning at Glenwood Cemetery, 2525 Washington Avenue in Houston.

In lieu of customary remembrances, the family asks that memorial contributions be given in the name of Bonner Baker Moffitt to Hope Healing Center & Institute c/o St. Martin’s Episcopal Church, 717 Sage Road, Houston, TX 77056 or to a charity of your choice.