Byron (Gene) Eugene Baker

Byron Eugene (Gene) Baker, 72, passed away on the 25th of November 2006 at Kootenai Medical Center in Coeur d'Alene following complications from cancer surgery. He has gone back to his heavenly home to the God who gave him life, and a special reunion with his loved ones who have gone on before him. Gene was born in Porthill, Idaho on June 9, 1934 to Byron E. and Esther C. (Callison) Baker. His early life centered around the family farm, the Porthill school and community where he grew up. Gene graduated from Bonners Ferry High School with the class of 1952. He always had a special talent with machinery, and after graduating high-school, he became the youngest Grade-all operator in the Northwest in the construction of a large irrigation system in the Columbia Basin, which was the beginning of many years of operating various and sundry pieces of equipment. On Nov. 20, 1953, Gene married Dolores Mae Chappell of Moyie Springs in Porthill, where they made their first home for a short time. Their first child, David, was born in 1955 in the old Bonners Ferry hospital. They were then blessed with two daughters, Sherri Ann in 1956, and Toni Marie in 1959. The family then moved to Priest River where Gene logged for Dorie's father, Robert Chappell. In 1961, Gene moved his work and his family to Lewistown, MT where he and his crew worked on the Minute-man Missile silos running dump trucks hauling all the materials needed for the building of the silos. Early in 1963, after that job was completed, Gene brought his family back to Bonners Ferry and again worked for a couple of logging companies for a time until the opportunity came to run a logging operation in and around Thompson Falls, MT. He worked there for many years, while Dorie and the kids stayed in Bonners Ferry and kept the home fires burning with Gene coming home mostly on week-ends and holidays. In the early 1980's, Gene had the opportunity to purchase property on the South Hill, and of opening and operating Amer-Can Industrial from that time to his final days. The greatest love and passion of Gene's life was spending time with his family. He was the happiest when he was surrounded by his wife, Dorie, his children and their spouses, his seven grandchildren, and his little dog-child, Taz. Another great enjoyment for Gene was transporting the kids and their team-mates to all the wrestling matches and sports events possible. He put much time and energy into the youth of the community, gathering them in and caring for them. I don't think he ever missed one of their baseball games. Whatever the kids were doing, Gene was there. Gene was also a life-time member of the NRA. He enjoyed traveling and broadening his horizons, and was most interested in all the historical places they were able to visit. Gene is survived by his wife, Dorie, his son, David E. Baker, daughters Sherri Ann (Greg) Carter, and Toni Marie (Larry) Pennock, his beloved grandchildren, Jeremy Baker, Nicholas, Christopher, and Brittany Schave, Tyson and Chanalea Pennock, his sister and brother¬in-law, Carol and Buster Pluid, grand-daughter-in-law, Jennifer Pennock Brakeman and Matt, numerous nieces and nephews, and dear traveling companions, Marla and Gary Bohne, along with many extended family and loving friends along the way. We were blessed by his loving, compassionate nature, and his wonderful sense of humor. Those preceding him in death were: his maternal grandparents, James W. and Bertha E. Callison, his paternal grandparents, Carry Budd and Estella Baker, his parents, Byron E. and Esther Caroline Baker, his baby brother, Jimmy, and his very dear grandson, Duane Pennock. Memorials may be made to Friends of the Restorium, or to St. Jude's Children's Hospital.