thedrifter
08-13-07, 09:31 AM
Monday, Aug 13, 2007
Posted on Mon, Aug. 13, 2007
Marine made kids' lives his priority
GERRY HOSTETLER
He was all about the kids -- his own or anybody else's. He just wanted it better for them, whatever their needs were.
Henry Allen Baker of Charlotte, 59, died Aug. 2 of a heart ailment. He retired from the Marines as a master sergeant after 23 years and was the ROTC instructor at Sun Valley High School in Union County.
He'd been at Sun Valley for seven years and was going to retire in January, said his wife Wanda. One of the first things she noticed about him when they met in 1980 was his love of children.
"Here was this 33-year-old man, trying to raise three children by himself. I couldn't see how he was doing it; he sacrificed everything to raise those children."
One way he did it was to handle their hardships with fun. If he didn't have gas money, they all got on their bikes to go on a "trip." They'd go to the grocery store and carry food home in their baskets, Wanda said. "He was a very good man, an honest man, who cared about other people, about children. He was decent, had integrity and knew how to take any adverse situation and see humor. He had a lot of hope that things would get better."
Henry got his sister to sign for him to join the Marines. He served from 1965 to 1967, got out of the Marines and into street trouble, his wife said.
Henry first married Marie Minikons, and had sons Henry and Santana and daughter Lynn before divorcing Minikons in the late 1970s. He was a drill sergeant at Camp Lejeune for several years before he came to the Charlotte Marine Reserve Center.
Marines was his career
"He didn't have a college degree," said Wanda, who married Henry in 1984, "but he had good, strong family values."A Marine colonel befriended him, she said, and encouraged him to make something out of his life. The colonel told him to do something for somebody else.
"He spent his life trying to repay what (the colonel) did for him," his wife said. "If not for the Marine Corps and the closeness they had, he would never have been able to succeed like he did. He went back in and made a career out of it."
Henry got involved with ROTC, cycling and children -- always the children. He told Wanda, "I'm not concerned about the Ivy League kids -- they'll make it. I'm concerned about the ones who fall through the cracks, who have no hope."
If one of his students had a bad situation at home, it wasn't unusual for the sergeant to bring a child home with him. "It could be 20 degrees outside, and the student wouldn't have a jacket," Wanda said. "He would ask me if I had anything, because his clothes were too big. He'd take bags of boys clothes to those he knew were underprivileged kids. He'd take his own clothes and give them away."
They keep in touch
Henry was also a keen cyclist, and a member of the Cannonball Cycling team. He rode in 15 consecutive charity rides to Myrtle Beach to benefit the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
Sun Valley principal Ken Ross said, "He was the guiding light for Naval JROTC; his influence stretched far beyond the program's scope. He touched so many lives in so many positive ways.
"He still has many former students, whether in the armed services or not, who keep in touch and visit when in town," the principal said. "Everything about his life was about doing things for the kids."
It's a Matter
of Life... Gerry
Hostetler
Ellie
Posted on Mon, Aug. 13, 2007
Marine made kids' lives his priority
GERRY HOSTETLER
He was all about the kids -- his own or anybody else's. He just wanted it better for them, whatever their needs were.
Henry Allen Baker of Charlotte, 59, died Aug. 2 of a heart ailment. He retired from the Marines as a master sergeant after 23 years and was the ROTC instructor at Sun Valley High School in Union County.
He'd been at Sun Valley for seven years and was going to retire in January, said his wife Wanda. One of the first things she noticed about him when they met in 1980 was his love of children.
"Here was this 33-year-old man, trying to raise three children by himself. I couldn't see how he was doing it; he sacrificed everything to raise those children."
One way he did it was to handle their hardships with fun. If he didn't have gas money, they all got on their bikes to go on a "trip." They'd go to the grocery store and carry food home in their baskets, Wanda said. "He was a very good man, an honest man, who cared about other people, about children. He was decent, had integrity and knew how to take any adverse situation and see humor. He had a lot of hope that things would get better."
Henry got his sister to sign for him to join the Marines. He served from 1965 to 1967, got out of the Marines and into street trouble, his wife said.
Henry first married Marie Minikons, and had sons Henry and Santana and daughter Lynn before divorcing Minikons in the late 1970s. He was a drill sergeant at Camp Lejeune for several years before he came to the Charlotte Marine Reserve Center.
Marines was his career
"He didn't have a college degree," said Wanda, who married Henry in 1984, "but he had good, strong family values."A Marine colonel befriended him, she said, and encouraged him to make something out of his life. The colonel told him to do something for somebody else.
"He spent his life trying to repay what (the colonel) did for him," his wife said. "If not for the Marine Corps and the closeness they had, he would never have been able to succeed like he did. He went back in and made a career out of it."
Henry got involved with ROTC, cycling and children -- always the children. He told Wanda, "I'm not concerned about the Ivy League kids -- they'll make it. I'm concerned about the ones who fall through the cracks, who have no hope."
If one of his students had a bad situation at home, it wasn't unusual for the sergeant to bring a child home with him. "It could be 20 degrees outside, and the student wouldn't have a jacket," Wanda said. "He would ask me if I had anything, because his clothes were too big. He'd take bags of boys clothes to those he knew were underprivileged kids. He'd take his own clothes and give them away."
They keep in touch
Henry was also a keen cyclist, and a member of the Cannonball Cycling team. He rode in 15 consecutive charity rides to Myrtle Beach to benefit the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
Sun Valley principal Ken Ross said, "He was the guiding light for Naval JROTC; his influence stretched far beyond the program's scope. He touched so many lives in so many positive ways.
"He still has many former students, whether in the armed services or not, who keep in touch and visit when in town," the principal said. "Everything about his life was about doing things for the kids."
It's a Matter
of Life... Gerry
Hostetler
Ellie