Obituary
Josephine Baker Atkins
St. Helena Parish, Louisiana


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ATKINS,    JOSEPHINE BAKER
An educator with the St. Helena Parish school system and a resident of Amite, she was loving and kind, and was born June 16, 1939, to Alphonse Baker and Callie Jennings Baker. She departed this life Sunday, March 4, 2001, at University Hospital, New Orleans. Wake services at Trinity Chapel AME Zion Church, La. 16, Amite, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Friday. Religious services at the church at noon Saturday, conducted by the Rev. Frank Garrett. Interment in Durbin Cemetery, Independence. She completed her early school years at Baygal Elementary and went on to complete high school at Helena High. She continued her undergraduate studies at Grambling State University and received her bachelor's degree, master's degree and master's plus 30 from Southern University. She furthered her studies at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond.              She was a lifelong member of Trinity Chapel AME Zion Church of Amite, where she
served faithfully until she departed. She leaves to cherish her memory a loving husband, James C. Atkins Sr., Amite; a daughter, Shelia V. Atkins-Haywood and husband Samuel, Amite; two sons, James C. Atkins Jr. and wife Nicole, Mandeville, and Desmond Ted Atkins and wife Denedra Jackson, Amite; two grandchildren, Devin Atkins and Samantha Haywood; three foster children, Robert Martin, Kentwood, David Myles, New Orleans, and James Terrell, Baton Rouge; a dear friend, Hilda Holmes, Amite; three sisters, Clara Small, Greensburg, whose late husband was Lorenza Sr., Lula Lewis and husband Michael, Houston, and Dorothy Sims and husband the Rev. Earl Sims, Baton Rouge; three brothers, Alphonse Baker and wife Ollie Bell, Independence, James Baker                    and wife Geraldine, Chicago, and Willie Baker and wife Laverne, Clinton; four
sisters-in-law, Jeanelle Rankins and husband Guy, and Bernice Hall, all of Amite, and Myrtle Daniels and husband Arthur, and Delores Stuckey, all of Hammond; mother-in-law, Lois Johnson Atkins, Amite; 14 nieces; seven nephews; and other relatives and friends. She is preceded in death by her parents. MJR Friendly Service Funeral Home Inc., Denham Springs, in charge of arrangements.