REV. JOHN BAKER

NEW HAMBURG, Mo. -- The Rev. John "Woody" Baker, 87, a priest with the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau 62 years, died Sunday, Feb. 18, 2001, at St. John's Hospital in Springfield, Mo., following a brief illness.

He was born June 4, 1913, in St. Louis, son of Henry and Julian Murphy Baker.

Baker was ordained in June 1939 at Kenrick Seminary in St. Louis. He served in two St. Louis parishes before joining the U.S. Air Force as a chaplain in March 1943.

He returned to St. Louis in 1946 and served in various pastoral assignments with the Archdiocese of St. Louis. He served as pastor of St. Lawrence Parish in New Hamburg from September 1953 to June 1954, and was appointed pastor at St. Denis Parish in Benton, Mo., in 1975.

Baker had also served parishes in Caruthersville, Fredericktown, Portageville, Springfield, Marshfield, West Plains and Thayer in Missouri. He began his last pastorate at Our Lady of the Ozarks at Forsyth, Mo., in June 1981, retiring in August 1989. In 1990 he was appointed chaplain for Daughters of Isabella in Springfield.

There are no survivors.

Baker donated his body to St. Louis University.

A Memorial Mass will be held at 11 a.m. March 1 at St. Agnes Cathedral in Springfield.