BAKER, SAM

SAM BAKER, longtime resident of Middle River, died on Monday, February 25, at Franklin Square Hospital in Baltimore County of pneumonia. He was ninety-three years old. Upon the death of his father, Harry Baker, in 1934, he, with his mother and older sister, took over the operation of the father's several different businesses. These included a coal yard, a feed shed to dispense feed to several domesticated fowl such as chickens, ducks and turkeys and a grocery store that also sold such dry goods as workman's gloves, pants, shirts and overalls. When the Eighteenth Amendment was repealed in 1933, Harry Baker obtained a license, initially permitting the sale of beer and light wine. But later he obtained a more inclusive license permitting the sale of distilled beverages. Sam was a graduate of the 1932 Class of Kenwood High School, its very first class of 32 graduates. He played on the varsity soccer and basketball teams. During the bicentennial celebration of George Washington's birthday in 1932, Sam rode a horse across the school yard grounds commemorating Washington as the Revolutionary Army Commander-in-Chief. Additionally, after Washington became president, he traveled along the Old Philadelphia Road which was right in front of the original 1932 Kenwood High School. Washington used the Old Philadelphia Road to travel to Philadelphia, which was the seat of the Continental Congress. Later, Washington traveled that road to New York City to be inaugurated as the first President of the United States. Sam was an avid hunter of small game and later in his life, deer. He also liked crabbing and fishing and owned several boats, all with inboard motors, permitting him to fish in Chesapeake Bay and its estuaries. He served in the U.S. Coast Guard as a Pharmacist Mate on cutters, largely in the North Atlantic during WWII. Sam is survived by his son, Henry and his wife, Joanne of Morganville, NJ, a daughter Ellen Mullman, husband Michael Mullman, a granddaughter Cassie, and a grandson Jeremy Mullman and his wife Jennifer and a great-grandson Jack Harris Mullman, of Chicago. Sam has been a widower since 1995, having lost his beloved wife Lil. Funeral arrangements are 12:00 Noon, Wednesday, February 27 at Levinson Funeral Home, 8900 Reisterstown Road, Baltimore, MD (Exit 20 of I-695).