April 17, 2018

Linn County News
Published April 18, 2018
Neva Kathleen Baker, age 100, went to meet her Lord on Jan. 19, 2018, at Wheat State Manor, Whitewater, Kan. Kathleen was born on July 9, 1917, in Parker, Kan., to Charles Edgar Ross and Agnes Lynette (McCollam) Ross of Blue Mound, Kan.
For her first six years, Kathleen lived in Parker and started school there. Then the family moved to Centerville where she resided until the age of 16. At that time she went to live with and work for Wallace and Jane McCaslin from 1934-1941. During that time she also worked at the Kincaid Bank for two years, 1938-1939.
On Oct. 9, 1942, Kathleen married Raymond Charles Baker in Iola, Kan. They lived together on a farm 1 mile south and 1 mile west of Blue Mound for 34 years. There were no children of this marriage. Raymond was blind, so much of the farming fell to Kathleen. She drove the tractor and farmed with the help of other family members. In addition to farming they also had a dairy operation. In 1976 they retired from farming and milking.
Kathleen was a member of the Rebekah Lodge in Blue Mound since 1942.
They bought a fifth-wheel camper trailer and began their snowbird adventures. Kathleen pulled that trailer from Kansas to the Rio Grande Valley in Texas every winter for the next 21 years. Raymond and Kathleen enjoyed their life as snowbirds and made many lasting friendships over those years.
In 1980 they sold the farm and bought a house in Blue Mound. They lived there together until Raymond’s passing on June 18, 2003, after 61 years of marriage. Kathleen continued to live there alone until 2007 when she sold the house and moved to Calvary Crossing Apartments in Fort Scott, Kan. Calvary Crossing was then her home until her health began to fail in the spring of 2017. So on May 18, 2017, she moved from her apartment to Wheat State Manor, Whitewater, to be near her niece, Eleanor Smith. She remained there at Wheat State Manor until her passing on Jan. 19, 2018.
Kathleen was preceded in death by her parents, Charles and Agnes Ross; her brother, Mac Ross; her sister, Luella Sanders; and her husband, Raymond Baker. She is survived by six nieces and one nephew, Eleanor (Dan) Smith of Potwin, Kan. (formerly of Blue Mound), Helen Aggers, Blue Mound, and Kay Foster, Mary Kartcheske, Lorene Russel, Willis Ross and Winnie Deiter, all of King City, Mo.; and numerous great nieces and nephews, great-great nieces and nephews, and several great-great-great nieces and nephews.
A memorial service will be 3 p.m. Monday, April 23, 2018, at Blue Mound Federated Church, Blue Mound. Visitation will be from 2 p.m. to service time at the church.
The family suggests contributions to Wheat State Manor in care of the funeral home, P.O. Box J, Mound City, Kan. 66056. Online condolences for the family can be left at www.schneiderfunerals.com.