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Note: Baker, Richard "Dick" Huntington, 88, of Mesa, AZ passed away on April 26,2015. Dick Baker was born July 24, 1926 in Lansing, Michigan, the youngest of three sons of Marion Den Houten and Cleo (Jim) Edwin Baker. During his adolescence he developed an interest in Big Band Jazz. He began playing the saxophone in junior high and formed his own band, the Swinging Seamen, to play at dances and weddings. He graduated from Sexton High School in June 1944, near the bottom of his class, despite having one of the highest IQ's. A few months after graduation. He was drafted into the Army as World War II was winding down. His first overseas assignment was in the Philipines, where he was recruited to play the saxophone in the dance band of his regiment. He spent the rest of his time in the service playing the music he loved. His final post was at Fort Custer in Battle Creek, Michigan where he met his future wife, Shirley (Bunny) Eggleston, who was working at the PX. Shortly after their marriage on November 12, 1947, they moved to Arizona where he was accepted at Arizona State University, despite his low grades. During his four years at ASU he, his wife, and eventually his new son, lived first in a bullet trailer, then in old army barracks near where Grady Gammage Auditorium is now located. After graduating from ASU with a degree in Economics and Management in 1951, he moved to Toledo to work as an accountant. During that very cold winter his first daughter was born, but he soon decided to move his family back to the warmer climates of Phoenix. He worked for several years in Phoenix as an accountant and had two more daughters before he realized his dream, to go to law school. He moved his family to Tucson where he spent 3 years at the University of Arizona law school, attending classes during the day and working full time as an accountant at night. He graduated in 1960 and set up a practice in Phoenix where he handled wills, bankruptcies and taxes. When his marriage dissolved in the mid-1960's he moved to the Los Angeles area and worked as a tax preparer until he was 75 years old. In 2012 he moved to the Phoenix area to be near his oldest daughter. Those who knew him in his later years were delighted to find that this once quiet, reserved man, turned into a talkative, gregarious extrovert. He loved crossword puzzles, the Long Beach Jazz Festival, chicken and dumplings, politics, Stan Kenton, Coca-Cola, videotaping his grandchildren, hard-boiled eggs, Hawaii and his mustache. As dementia robbed him of his memories and his physical abilities, he never once complained about his limitations and always looked for a reason to smile. Dick was preceded in death by his parents and two brothers, William DenHouten and Maurice Cleo Baker. He is survived by his children, Richard, Kim, Buff and Shannon, his grandchildren Heather, Kelli and Emmet and his long-time friend Sue Marquez.
Published in The Arizona Republic on Sept. 25, 2015
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