Doris Elsie Baker, who died in Annapolis, Md., on Jan. 16, enjoyed meeting people, travel, mystery
novels, crosswords and puns. Her sense of humor was legendary among family and friends, along with
the Boston accent that softened, but never disappeared in the decades after leaving Massachusetts.
She was a beloved sister, wife, mother, cousin, aunt, grandmother and friend.

Born in Cambridge, Mass., on April 2, 1925, to Harvey and Elsie Baker, she graduated from Lexington
High School in 1943, and attended Boston University before working as a legal secretary in Boston.
She and three friends saved for months to pay for a trip to Europe in 1950, a trip that solidified their
friendships and made her want to travel further. She also took flying lessons alongside her brother,
Harvey Smith, Jr, and while he went on to get his pilot's license, she did not, but never lost her love of
flight.

Marriage to US Army Captain John W. Baker on Aug. 28, 1954, started her life as an Army wife and took
her to Germany for the first of several moves and overseas postings. She set up a total of 13 homes in
three counties and four states, while raising four children, until John's retirement in 1976.

Doris became conversationally fluent in German during their first posting to Germany, taught
herself conversational Arabic from records so that she could talk with the wives of officers from Jordan
and Egypt studying at the Command and General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth, Kan., and then
learned Thai while living in Bangkok, Thailand. She admitted defeat trying to learn Japanese after the
family moved to Okinawa, Japan, but was willing to try Russian in her early 70s.

Having studied the piano and organ as a youngster, she enjoyed all types of music, and later learned to
play the guitar. On a 1969 trip to India, she bought a sitar, and studied with a teacher in Bangkok until
the family moved to Japan.

She taught English at the Royal Thai Army Staff College, was one of the original tour guides at the Jim
Thompson House in Bangkok, served as president of the Army Officers' Wives Club on Okinawa, and in
Berlin she organized social functions for up to 200 people for visiting military and civilian VIPS and foreign
dignitaries.

Doris taught her children that living overseas and being able to travel to many countries was both a
privilege and an invaluable experience, and she encouraged them to take every possible opportunity to
explore new places and revisit others. However, her sense of direction, or lack thereof, was notorious, as
exemplified by her ability to get lost for hours while driving around Berlin and never once finding the wall
that then enclosed the western half of the city.

She and John also inculcated in their family a love of reading, live performances and movies.
Doris began working for the Executive Office of the State of Maryland in 1978. In 1980 she started at The
George Washington University's School of Business and Public Management, where she eventually
became director of the Office of Fellowships and Scholarship. Over the years she developed a reputation
as a key resource for Wolcott Foundation fellows and international students, even those not in business
programs.

After retiring on June 30, 1994, she and John pursued their love of travel, and she became interested in
Maryland conservation efforts and preserving the Chesapeake Bay, especially Bay-Wise gardening. Doris
enjoyed being the matriarch of an extended family that included cousins, nieces, nephews, grandchildren
and several graduates of the US Naval Academy whom the family had sponsored as midshipmen.
John died in March 2015, and Doris is survived by daughters Diane Baker (Taipei, Taiwan), Cynthia Baker
(Arnold, Md.) and Sharon Baker (Washington, D.C.), and son MG (ret) John W. Baker (Scottsdale, Ariz.)
and granddaughters Alexis (Trang, Thailand) and Mackenzie (Boston, Mass.).

There will be a celebration of Doris' life at St. Margaret's Episcopal Church in Annapolis on May 7 at
11am, and interment will be at Arlington National Cemetery at 2pm on May 8, please arrive at 1:15pm and check in with the yellow vested men working at the cemetery, they will direct you where to go. In lieu of flowers memorial contributions may be made to The Fisher House Foundation , The Chesapeake Bay Foundation , and/or Senior Dog Sanctuary of Maryland .