Obituary: Baker, Cyril John
Age 89
BAKER,
Cyril John
(Age 89)
Cyril John Baker passed away on April 9, 2016, after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease.
Cyril was born on September 25, 1926, in Birmingham, England to his parents, May and Thomas Baker.
During the Blitz in 1940-1941, Birmingham was being bombed along with London, so Cyril along with all of the other children was evacuated to a safer location.
Once the Blitz ended, Cyril moved back home to his parents.
He graduated from Birmingham University with a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science, both in nuclear physics.
He married the love of his life, Betty Taylor on March 3, 1951, in Sheldon in East Birmingham where they had both grown up.
In the same year, Cyril joined the Albright & Wilson Company to work at Midland Silicones in Barry, Glamorgan, South Wales and this was where their three children, Kim, Nicholas, and Kerry were born.
In 1968, Cyril was asked by Albright & Wilson to start a new chemical import and export company in the United States.
The company sent Cyril, Betty and the three children on the original Queen Elizabeth ship (the QE1) where they saw Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton who were also sailing on the QE1 to the U.S.
They settled in Ramsey, New Jersey, and lived there for the next 17 years until Cyril was transferred to Richmond, Virginia.
Their children were now grown up so only Betty and Cyril moved to Virginia in 1985.
When Cyril retired in 1990, they chose to remain in Virginia.
In 2001, Cyril and Betty decided to move across the country to Spokane to be closer to their daughter, Kim and her family in Liberty Lake.
They moved into a new home at Rockwood Retirement South where they lived for the past 15 years.
Cyril had a number of activities.
He was an excellent table tennis player and won championships in England.
When he moved to the United States, he took up platform tennis, golf, and bridge.
He enjoyed solving the difficult British-style cryptic crossword puzzles.
Rockwood Retirement South had a singing group for people with Parkinson’s disease.
Cyril had always enjoyed singing so he joined this group called the Tremble Clefs Singing Group.
Cyril was warm, kind, gentle and generous.
He was always ready to lend a hand whether it was to build a walkway in 98-degree weather or to cut and hang 70 rolls of wallpaper or to help a grandchild with a calculus problem.
He was always ready with a smile, a story, and a joke for anyone he met.
He never complained about his Parkinson’s disease, no matter how badly it was affecting him.
Cyril is predeceased by his parents and by his younger sister, June.
He is survived by Betty, his wife of 65 years, his three children - Kim (Bill) of Liberty Lake, Nick (Renee) of Woodstock, GA and Kerry of Hillsboro, OR - and his six grandchildren - Meghan of San Francisco, Alexander and Timothy of Liberty Lake, Samantha of Hoboken, NJ, and Taylor and Alexa of Canton, GA.
The family would like to express their thanks to the staff at Rockwood Retirement South and Hospice of Spokane for their wonderful, compassionate care not only of Cyril but also of our entire family.
In lieu of flowers, please donate to the Parkinson’s Disease Foundation at www.pdf.org (donations before May 6 will be matched 1 for 1) or to Hospice of Spokane at www.hospiceofspokane.org.