Mayor Baker remembered as a life truly worth living

story by Aric Mitchell
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As eulogist and family friend Matt Jeffery closed out his address to attendees of the
memorial in honor of former Fort Smith Mayor C. Ray Baker, Jr., he reminded everyone of the creed made famous by a man, who taught school for more than 40 years and served in civic duty for 30.

“Mayor Baker always said that life was worth living in Fort Smith, Arkansas. He truly lived a life worth living.”

Mourners gathered to pay their respects to Baker on Monday at First United Methodist located at North 15th Street. The service followed graveside interment at Forest Park Cemetery.

Baker died Mar. 4 after a long illness. Baker was mayor of Fort Smith between 1991 and 2010, and served on the Fort Smith Board of Directors for almost 10 years.

He also taught American History at Southside High School for 44 years, and taught English and geography at Ramsey Junior High School two years prior to moving to Southside. Baker was named the Arkansas Teacher of the Year, Arkansas PTA Teacher of the year, and in 1995 won the nationally prestigious Milken Family National Educator award.

Jeffery was one of three asked to address the public by the Baker family, along with
colleagues Wayne Haver, principal at Southside High School, and Claude Legris, executive director at the Fort Smith Convention and Visitors Bureau. Their memories of Baker frequently drew laughter from the audience.

“When I first met him, I thought I was going to be taught history by a crazy person. As it turned out I was correct,” Jeffery said.

He then revealed a story involving Baker and Jeffery’s mother Dianne, a fellow Southside faculty member that took place when the two were carpooling to school at the University of Arkansas.

“They both saw what appeared to be a silver disc-shaped object hovering in the sky, and they agreed it had to be a UFO. My mother, choosing to be more cautionary, said they shouldn’t say anything because ‘only slightly disturbed people reported UFOs,’” Jeffery recalled amid laughter. “Following the incident, my mother was at school and in between classes, a student approached her and said, ‘Mr. Baker said you saw a UFO.’”

Prior to the ceremony one of Baker’s five grandchildren, Alexis Elaine, shared memories of the man she referred to as “Ruffy.”

“He always made me laugh every time I was around him. I remember one Christmas he gave Nana a 1XL coat and thought it was the perfect size. When she put it on, he laughed and laughed and thought it was the funniest thing ever,” Alexis remembered.

The memorial focused largely on lighthearted memories such as these with son Brett
Baker providing “behind the scenes” details on the type of man his father was.

“I want to share stuff about my father that you don’t know. Living in his shadow was rewarding, but it could also be tough. People would come up to me and say: ‘Your dad is wonderful, an angel, a saint, does he ever get mad? The answer is ‘yes.’”

Baker’s recollections included an incident where he had installed a new radio in his
father’s pickup truck.

“Dad wasn’t much with electronics. He barely used his cell phone. One day the volume knob had fallen off at a high level with the radio on, and I left it for him to discover. So my dad ended up driving to work with Motley Crue’s ‘Shout at the Devil’ blasting on the speakers.”

Another story involved an ill-fated attempt by the former mayor to ride his son’s three-
wheeler.

“When he hit the gas, it popped up on back wheels and took off across the yard, eventually throwing him to the ground. I ran over to see if he was okay. He was looking at me with these wide eyes, and I said, ‘That was awesome. I’ve been trying to do that for a week.’ His response: ‘That thing better be gone by next week.’”

Theda Baker Jackson, the former mayor’s sister, closed out the remembrances with a glimpse into her brother’s youth.

“Ray, Toy and I grew up in a sports family. Dad was a pro baseball player and later a scout. Of the three of us, Toy (Ray’s other sister) was the athletic one, but at that time girls weren’t supposed to play sports. Ray wasn’t interested. He was in to too many activities. Imagine that.”

Jackson continued: “Many people would ask my dad, ‘Aren’t you disappointed your son isn’t following in your footsteps?’ to which he would reply, ‘Ray has a talent there are very few fortunate enough to have. He has a knack for getting along with people; wanting to do good; being in charge. I couldn’t be prouder.’ As we all know he did go on to do some wonderful things. Our family knows he loved us all, but he had another love, and that was a love for Fort Smith and the people in it. There were times I’m sure that Nancy and the kids felt he didn’t have enough time for them because of his schedule, but let me assure you there is nothing he wouldn’t have done for our family. He just wanted to do it all.”

Former City Director Ben Shipley said after that the funeral “was really a celebration of love.”