Kathleen W Baker

WALBRIDGE - Kathleen W. Baker, a patient presence in her first-grade classroom for decades, passed away Tuesday in Genesis HealthCare Perrysburg Center. She was 94. Mrs. Baker retired in 1980 from Walbridge Elementary School. She started there as a fourth-grade teacher, but first grade became her specialty and preference. Early on especially, her class was the first exposure to formal learning for many children, her daughter said. "She liked the fact that she would get to be their first teacher and teach them the alphabet and numbers," her daughter said. "And then she would go on and teach them to read with the Dick and Jane books. "She could make it so those kids would do a lot growth in that year," her daughter said. "She wanted to be the foundation, the first building block." Mrs. Baker expected students to participate, said her son Kempie, who was in her first-grade class, but "she always took her time with whoever needed the help." Her daughter became a kindergarten teacher in Toledo, coincidentally at Walbridge Elementary School, and her daughter also wanted students to be excited about learning. "I like the little ones and nurturing them, and she liked the same thing," her daughter said. "She was a great inspiration to me, doing that year after year." Mrs. Baker's faith and devotion to her church in Walbridge, Mainstreet United Brethren, as it was then known, led her to the classroom on Sundays as well. She taught youth and adult Sunday school and junior church and directed the annual children's Christmas program. "She was a very devout Christian," her son Kempie said. She was born Oct. 16, 1921, in Coshocton County's Walhonding to Minnie and Robert Burrows. After several years, the family moved to a Wood County farm, and she was a graduate of the former Wayne High School. Mrs. Baker received her degree from Bowling Green State University and began her teaching career in Grand Rapids, Ohio. She liked to garden and cross-stitch and sew and prepare big Sunday family dinners, from relish tray through dessert. "She was always caring for somebody else or worrying about them or thinking about them," her son Kempie said. She and Duane Baker married Feb. 4, 1946. He died Sept. 5, 1994. Surviving are her two sons, a daughter, and two granddaughters. Visitation will be from 2-7 p.m. today in the Witzler-Shank Funeral Home, Walbridge, where services will be at 10 a.m. Saturday. The family suggests tributes to the Alzheimer's Association, northwest Ohio chapter, or Hospice of Northwest Ohio.