M. Jacqueline ‘Jackie’ Baker, 85

M. Jacqueline “Jackie” Baker, 85, of Fenwick Island and Ocean View, Del., formerly of Carlisle, Pa., passed away Monday, April 16, 2012, at Berlin Nursing Home in Berlin, Md.

Baker was born May 12, 1926, in Carlisle to Ernest C. and Regina Sheafer Baker, longtime residents and local business owners. A 1952 graduate of Shippensburg State Teachers College, Baker commanded a varied and interesting education background: University of Delaware master’s degree (1957), post-graduate work at American University (1960-64) and a doctorate in education philosophy from the University of the New World in Valais, Switzerland (1972), an experimental institution she helped found and operate that catered to the innovative learning styles of troubled 1960s rebels.

Her teaching experience ranged from New York to Florida, from the gifted to special-needs students. She retired in 1991 from William Penn High School in New Castle after almost 40 years of dedicated work. Her religious affiliation also varied from the United Church of Christ in Carlisle to the Roman Catholic Church and the conservative Church of Christ in Colora, Md., her last formal association.

Baker is survived by her sister, Jean B. Baker of Crossville, Tenn., and by cousins in the Pittsburg, Pa., Milwaukee, Wis., and Carlisle areas.

She will be interred Sunday, April 29, 2012, at 1:30 p.m., alongside her parents, at Westminster Cemetery in Carlisle, Pa. There will be a celebration of Baker’s life held on Saturday, May 12, at 5 p.m. at 39085 Bayfront Drive in Ocean View, Del.