The Chickasha Express-Star
June 19, 2002

Mertice M. Baker, 87, a long time resident of Chickasha and Norman, died Sunday, June 16, 2002, at a hospital in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Funeral Services will be held at 10:00 a.m., Thursday, June 20, 2002, at the Brookhaven Baptist Church in Norman. Interment will follow at the Resthaven Memory Gardens Cemetery in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Pallbearers will be Richard Baker, Rudy Bantista, Jim Selfridge, Floyd McCalip, Stanley Blacnett and D. J. Cook. Honorary Bearer will be Jackie Ward. Services are under the direction of Havenbrook Funeral Home of Norma, Oklahoma.

Mrs. Baker was born December 29, 1914, in Lillie, Louisiana. She was a graduate of Moore High School, class of 1934 and married Clyde J. Baker in Norman on November 11, 1934. They spent 11 years in Kansas. After returning to Oklahoma, they lived in Cromwell, Pauls Valley, Chandler and Cushing before settling in Chickasha where they spent 20 years. They retired in Norman in 1982. Mrs. Baker was a homemaker and a member of the Baptist faith and taught Sunday School for 50 years. She was a Brownie Scout Leader, G. A. Leader, Gray Lady of the Red Cross, and a member of the Norman Seroses Club.

Mrs. Baker was preceded in death by her parents, Felix Monroe and Sarah Leona Risinger Ward, her husband, Clyde J. Baker, one son, Bill J. Baker, two sisters, Ollie McCalip and Orien Winkle, and two brothers, Minor Ward and Junior Ward. She is survived by two daughters: Dolores Bantista and husband, Rudy of Anadarko, Oklahoma and Carol Selfridge and husband, Jim, of Lake Charles, Louisiana, six grandchildren: Richard baker of Tahlequah, Ann Baker of Oklahoma City, Pam Baker of Tulsa, Hermana Smith of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, Kristie Ford of Lake Charles, La., and Mandy Ramsey of Baton Rouge, LA. and six brothers and sisters, Travis Ward of Oklahoma City, M. D. Ward of Norman, Eunice Nickens of Oklahoma City, Lessie Rolley of Chickasha, Dorothy Spann and Jeanell Blancett of Okla. City and many nieces and nephews.