This last week has been fairly routine for our family, and I was wondering if I’d have much to write about this weekend. Then a colleague and friend of mine passed away unexpectedly around 2:30 Friday afternoon.
Barry Baker was the Supervisor of Career and Technical (Vocational) Education for our school system. He was returning to Springfield from a meeting Friday afternoon. As he was driving along Highway 431 (the Tom Austin Highway) he was involved in a head on collision with another vehicle and died from injuries sustained in the accident. He was 54. The other driver, who happened to be a student at one of our high schools, had fallen asleep at the wheel and drifted over the centerline of the road. He was ejected from his car and will be okay.
Mr. Baker and his wife had one daughter, and had recently become grandparents. He had been one of the Agriculture teachers at East Robertson High School for many years (though after my time as a student there). He has been working in his current capacity for about five years. In that time I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know him (I already knew his wife as she taught at one of our schools). His office has been next to mine after we moved to our current location last year.
Mr. Baker was a man of extremely few words (for those of you on Mom’s side of the family who remember Warren Letsinger then you’ve got the idea), but once you initiated the conversation you found a real friend. Due to his nature he was a great listener, but I always valued what he had to say. I guess it was because I knew whatever words he said were carefully chosen. Many teachers recognized this and would come to him for advice. He was also well respected among our supervisors at our Central Office as well as his old faculty at ERHS.
I don’t know if Mr. Baker was ever a Boy Scout, but he took their motto to the extreme. His car was practically a traveling toolbox, complete with an air tank for flat tires. I once told Vicki I was glad he and I travel the same route to work in case my truck ever broke down.
The hardest thing about all this is the abruptness of it. It just reminds you that there is no guarantee that you’ll come home when you walk out the door on any given morning. Mr. Baker is the third school system employee I knew to have died this school year. The other two were ladies who lost their battles with cancer (one of them died Wednesday) and were not unexpected. I knew these ladies well, worked with them regularly, and had a high regard for them, but the relationships weren’t as close as knowing Mr. Baker.
Mr. Baker’s funeral is tomorrow. Our schools will operate as normal, but our offices will be closed in his honor. This funeral will not be easy for any of our Central Office staff.
Joe
