Merilyn Baker (Marshall)

Merilyn F. Baker (Marshall), a Lab retiree and resident of Penn Valley, Calif., died Dec. 25 after a short battle with cancer.

Born in Oakland, Calif. in 1938, she attended Castlemont High School where she was a cheerleader and a diver.

She married soon after graduating and moved to Livermore where she had her three boys. She divorced in 1969 and spent the next 20 years raising her three boys. During that time she worked as a secretary and bookkeeper for a number of companies and eventually retired from the Lab.

In 1989, the Loma Prieta earthquake prompted a call from her old flame Rich, which lead to their reunion and eventually marriage in 1991.

The couple moved to Placerville, then onto Penn Valley. They spent 21 years together.

Baker is preceded in death by her son Todd.

She is survived by her husband Rich Baker; her brother, Jim Wells; her half-brother, Robert; her half-sister, Carolyn; her sons, Kirk and Dean; grandchildren, Roddy, Finn and Maura; and many friends and acquaintances.