As a high school youth, he worked two summers on ore freighters on the Great Lakes. Richard was a talented basketball player at Berea High School, where he graduated in 1942. He enrolled at Baldwin-Wallace College and shortly thereafter was selected to enter the V-12 program there to prepare for naval officer training. Upon completion of V-12, he was inducted into the Navy and sent to midshipman school at Columbia University where he earned his commission as an ensign in the U.S. Navy.
His first assignment was in San Francisco where he served as an armed courier of classified military and diplomatic messages between the Federal Building and the Presidio. After several months, he was assigned to the attack transport U.S.S. Fayette of the Third Fleet in the Pacific theater. He participated in the Battle of Iwo Jima and witnessed the flag raising on Mt. Suribachi.
After being discharged, Richard completed his degree at B-W in 1948 and then graduated from the Cleveland School of Embalming. He, along with his parents, brothers and son operated the Baker Funeral Home in Berea for 68 years. Richard was known as a compassionate and caring funeral director by the many families he served during a 51 year career. He was a 68 year member of the United Methodist Church of Berea. His interests included big game hunting in the western U.S. and Canada and watching sports, especially Cleveland Indians baseball. As a younger man, he fully restored a 1922 Ford Model T touring car.
As a high school youth, he worked two summers on ore freighters on the Great Lakes. Richard was a talented basketball player at Berea High School, where he graduated in 1942. He enrolled at Baldwin-Wallace College and shortly thereafter was selected to enter the V-12 program there to prepare for naval officer training. Upon completion of V-12, he was inducted into the Navy and sent to midshipman school at Columbia University where he earned his commission as an ensign in the U.S. Navy.
His first assignment was in San Francisco where he served as an armed courier of classified military and diplomatic messages between the Federal Building and the Presidio. After several months, he was assigned to the attack transport U.S.S. Fayette of the Third Fleet in the Pacific theater. He participated in the Battle of Iwo Jima and witnessed the flag raising on Mt. Suribachi.
After being discharged, Richard completed his degree at B-W in 1948 and then graduated from the Cleveland School of Embalming. He, along with his parents, brothers and son operated the Baker Funeral Home in Berea for 68 years. Richard was known as a compassionate and caring funeral director by the many families he served during a 51 year career. He was a 68 year member of the United Methodist Church of Berea. His interests included big game hunting in the western U.S. and Canada and watching sports, especially Cleveland Indians baseball. As a younger man, he fully restored a 1922 Ford Model T touring car.
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