Dr. Edgar D. Baker

Dr. Edgar D. Baker passed away on June 21, 2018 at Elizabeth House with complications from diabetes. He was born in Pine Bluff, AR on September 7, 1936 to the late Maybel Nicholson and Burt J. Baker. In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his half sisters, Ruth, Jackie and Jean.

He grew up in Dyersburg, TN and graduated from Dyersburg High School in 1954. He played football and baseball in high school. He was a talented and determined player and was a national All-American High School Selectee which enabled him to attend college on football scholarship. He attended Vanderbilt University, Arlington Jr. College (now University of Texas at Arlington) where he played on the Junior Rose Bowl team in California, and Murray State University in Murray, KY. While at Murray State, he met and married his wife of 60 years, Greta Fay Boyd of Sheridan, KY.

He continued his education at University of Tennessee College of Medicine in Memphis, TN and graduated in June 1962. He then did a general medicine internship at Ben Taub Hospital in Houston, TX. Dr. Baker served 3 years in the USAF before moving to NC, first to Franklin to practice at Angel Hospital then to Hendersonville. He was in Family Practice in Hendersonville from 1967 to 2009 when he retired. He shared a practice arrangement over the years with Dr. B.J. Romeo and Dr. William H. Strickland.

For many years, you could see him on the sidelines at East Henderson High School football games as the team doctor. He hoped to instill in these young men that if they studied and worked hard, anything was possible. Ed Baker was a living example of hard work and success and an excellent mentor.

He loved football and had season tickets to the University of Tennessee for more than 30 years. He dearly loved cheering for the Volunteers and wearing orange, going so far as to have an orange car, which he drove to home games doing 5 miles under the posted speed limit. He was a notoriously slow driver and he took a lot of ribbing for it! When he could no longer get to Knoxville, he watched the Vols on television.

He was a good man, loving husband and father. He loved music, especially jazz and Johnny Cash. He loved a good glass of Gentleman Jack and cheap wine, all in moderation. He enjoyed hunting, though he never brought home a prize. Mostly, he went because enjoyed the outdoors and being with his buddies. In his younger years, he loved his Wednesday afternoon round of golf where more talking and joking took place than serious play. He was a history buff, liked political sparring and cherished his chocolate labs Nate and Forrest. Ed had the gift of telling a perfectly timed joke. He was a funny man with a wicked sense of humor. Most of all, he loved being a self-described "country doctor." He cared deeply for his patients. He worked endless hours, touched thousands of lives and he will be remembered by many for the indelible mark he left on their life.

He is survived by his wife Greta, son Edgar D. Baker, Jr. and his fiance, Shonda; and daughter, Susan Baker Weis and her husband, Steven; and grandchildren Morgan Elizabeth and Alexander Baker Weis; foster grandson, Emmanuel Muteberwa; Sister-in-law Sharon Summers and her husband, Rodney.

A memorial service will be held at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, June 24, 2018 at the First United Methodist Church of Hendersonville, 204 Sixth Avenue West, Hendersonville, NC. A reception will be held immediately following the service in the Barber Christian Life Center.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests that donations in memory of Dr. Edgar Baker be directed to the First United Methodist Church of Hendersonville, 204 6th Ave W, Hendersonville, NC 28739 or Four Seasons Hospice, 571 South Allen Road, Flat Rock, NC 28731.

An online register book is available for family and friends by visiting. Thos. Shepherd & Son Funeral Directors and Cremation Memorial Center is in charge of the arrangements.