Clarence M. Baker: 1896 - 1950

Today, afflicted (or blessed) with a sudden fit of industry I began sorting the heaps on my desk.  The first thing I lighted upon was a picture of my grandfather, Clarence Baker and his high school graduating class.  I decided to write a letter and send it off to the Brandon Vermont Historical Society.  In the process I realized that by coincidence today is the 62nd anniversary of his death on September 25th 1950.  He died two months short of his 54th birthday.  The Vermont death certificate reads "Right sided heart failure duration 2 hours"  Contributing causes were noted as severe asthma and hypertensive heart disease.  Twenty five years less one day later, 24 September 1975, his widow, Madge Clark Baker, died.  The death certificate says "self-inflicted medication overdosage" caused by a "severe depression reaction".

I was not yet three years old when my grandfather died and I cannot remember him.  He was a mild man, henpecked according to my mother who was very fond of him.  He had a beautiful voice and was a soloist at church and in other venues.  He was a pillar of the community, an active member of the church, an optometrist with a practice in Brandon and a Freemason.  I have researched his ancestry back to Thomas Baker, the original immigrant to New England.  Thomas Baker (1638 - 1710) came to Massachusetts but soon left for Rhode Island.  A tailor by trade he later ordained as a Baptist minister and was pastor of the Kingston Rhode Island church from 1664 to 1710.

Clarence was in the Naval Reserve during World War I.  In this picture he looks very like his grandson and my brother, Brian Smith.

Clarence played the cornet and it was said that he played in John Philip Sousa's band but I have never confirmed this.  The instrument was passed down in our family and was briefly played by Brian but I believe it has since gone out of the family.

This is the picture taken at the end of his life-- a slight variant of the one used in his obituary.