John D. Baker

Born June 19, 1914, in Rimersburg, Clarion County, he was the sixth of 12 children born to the late John H. Baker and Ethel London Baker.

During the Great Depression, Mr. Baker, at age 21, was part of a crew that worked for the Works Progress Administration (WPA) digging ditches and laying them with stone on Deep Hollow Road and Bredinsburg Road. Each man earned $24 every two weeks.

Mr. Baker was a proud employee of National Transit in Oil City. During World War II, he was a member of a team of men who machined many parts for the Liberty Ship fleet that played such an important part in the war.

To his daughter, he recalled the proud time when President Franklin Roosevelt came to the plant and personally spoke to the men. While he worked for a few years at National Transit, his most important length of employment was at Joy Manufacturing in Franklin. He retired as a machinist in 1979 and was well known as a mentor in the shop.

He was married June 23, 1941, to Alice Arminta Carll in Cumberland, Md. The couple celebrated 67 years together, setting a wonderful example of life-long love.

Many people in the Oil City area fondly remember John and his beloved wife Arminta as the owners of Baker’s Confectionery at 305 E. Second St. from 1954 to 1984. Started in the early 1900s, it remains one of the oldest businesses in the area. Not just a neighborhood store, the Bakers made it a warm, special place to stop, shop and visit.

Mr. Baker was a proud member of the Masonic Brotherhood for years and enjoyed participating in the Shriners’ charitable activities, from occasionally riding the three-wheelers to being a regular driver of young patients and their families to the Shrine Hospital for treatment in Erie.

His love for the game of golf and the weekly Senior League he and his son Jack played on with some of his best friends were the highlights of his summer.

His winters, for as long as he was able, were brightened by his hunting trips, mostly for deer, with Jack.

For years, the Bakers were avid bowlers. Mr. Baker bowled on a men’s league once a week and together they bowled on a weekly couples team.

Mr. Baker was longtime member of Grace United Methodist Church in Oil City.

Following the death of his wife and his son, Mr. Baker moved with his daughter and son-in-law, Carol and Pat Boyle, to Arizona.

Surviving are two children, Linda Stuchell and her husband Merle of Trophy Club, Texas, and Carol Boyle and her husband Pat of Oil City and Paradise Valley, Ariz.; a sister, Pauline Benton of Oil City; six grandchildren, Greg Stuchell and his wife Heather, Joli Gargiulo and Heather Scharr and her husband Paul, all from the Dallas, Texas, area; and Kimball Boyle and Frances of Carlsbad, Calif., Matt Boyle of Scottsdale, Ariz., and Kate Chester and her husband Derek of Cave Creek, Ariz; and nine great-grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his son, John “Jack” Baker who died in August 2009, his siblings and his parents.

Mr. Baker’s body will be returned to Oil City where he will be interred next to his wife and near his son in the Brandon Cemetery, Cranberry Township.

A memorial service will be held at a later date at Grace United Methodist Church in Oil City.

Funeral arrangements are being handled by the Shadow Mountain Mortuary in Phoenix and Morrison Funeral Home in Oil City.

Online condolences may be sent to http://www.shadowmountainmortuary.com.