Kimble County, TX - Obituaries:  Baker, Weaver, 1946
Saturday, July 22, 2000

Submitted by:  burtwyat@ctesc.net  (Frederica Wyatt)
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   Found in the scrapbook belonging to the late Margaret Griffen Harrison, Junction, Texas
                                 (Name of paper not given)

                       Weaver Baker Rites Are Held Here Wednesday

  Funeral services for Weaver H. Baker, Chairman of the State Board of Control, who was 
killed Sunday morning in a car crash near Austin, were held at the Junction Baptist
Church Wednesday afternoon at two o'clock, with Dr. W. R. White, pastor of the First
Batist Church of Austin, officiating.
  Dr. White was assisted by Dr. James J. Kellam of Dallas, and Chaplain Neel Greer of
Camp Fannin, Tyler, both former pastors of the local church.
  Four hundred people filled the church for the services, and as many more stood outside
in a drizzling rain, to pay last respects to Judge Baker.
  The Junction Baptist Church, of which Mr. Baker had been a member for more than 25 years,
was decorated with one of the largest floral offerings ever seen in this Hill Country town.
  Following the services at the church, the funeral cortege made its way, through showers of 
rain, to the Junction Cemetery where the remains were interred.
  The Masonic Lodge and American Legion had charge of the graveside services.
  Active pallbearers were Gov. Coke Stevenson, Gully Cowsert, Emil A. Loeffler, Judge J. B.
Randolph, George Vierling, C. W. McCarroll, Alton Mason and J. S. Farmer
  Baker is survived by his widow and two daughters, Marilyn, 19, a student at Sul Ross 
State Teacher's College at Alpine, and Beverly, 23, of Austin, his parents, Mr. and Mrs.
Thomas Baker of Junction, a brother, Eli, and a sister, Mrs. H. I. Taylor, both of Junction.
  He was born April 10, 1894, on a farm near Jacksboro and moved to Kimble County with his
parents in 1901.  He was educated in the public schools of Kimble County and at the University
of Texas, and taught school for two years, prior to World War I.
  Baker was the first man to volunteer for service from Kimble County and served with both 
the 36th and 90th Divisions.  During World War II he served as judge advocate for the Texas
National Guard.
  Baker was licensed to practice law on June 12, 1919, and just a week later was appointed
Kimble County attorney.  He was elected to this post without opposition in 1920, re-elected
for a second term without opposition and retired to enter the law firm of Stevenson and
Knetsch.  He engaged in the general practice until January 1931, when he was elected District
Attorney of the 112 Judicial District.  Baker was re-elected for five terms without opposition.
  In 1942, Stevenson named him a member of the Board of Control, the state's business agency
which not only governs the state's system of eleemosynary institutions but is the budget-
making agency, and he was named chairman.
  He concentrated much of his efforts on improving the institutions for wards of the state.
He achieved one ambition about a year ago--the final removal of all the insane from county
jails to institutions better equipped to care for them.
  Baker was a Baptist and a member of the Kimble Bar Association, and was chairman of the 
trustees of the state teacher's retirement system.  He was active in the County and Commissioners
Association during his tenure as county official.  He unsuccessfully sought nomination to the
Court of Criminal Appeals in the July Democratic primary.
Note from Frederica:  Weaver H. Baker died 22 Sept. 1946
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