Mary Baker

Mary Susan (Telfer) Baker, aged 82, passed away peacefully on March 30, 2025, at Hawthorn Landing Memory Care of Kalamazoo, surrounded by her loving children. She was a lifelong resident of Kalamazoo, a beloved mother and grandmother, a well-known member of the community, and a favorite elementary teacher to hundreds of students and their parents in the Kalamazoo Public School system. She was also a lifelong member of the Kalamazoo First Congregational Church, a former employee of Senior Services of Kalamazoo, and a cherished friend and neighbor.Mary was born in Kalamazoo on August 23, 1942, to Leland and Vernette (Symons) Telfer. She grew up on McCourtie Street in Kalamazoo, the middle child of five. She graduated from Kalamazoo Central High School in 1960, followed by a teaching degree at Western Michigan University. Her first job was teaching children at the Kalamazoo Regional Psychiatric Hospital, where she met a fellow employee - her future husband - Robert Baker. Mary and Robert married in 1967 and had four children in five years: Laura (Richard Hem) Baker, Elizabeth Baker, Leigh (Shawn) Potts, and Brett (Robin) Baker. As a mother, Mary was calm, endlessly patient, loving, generous, and supportive. She was the kind of mom who tucked her kids into bed after reading them bedtime stories. (Her favorites were picture books by Mem Fox and Ezra Jack Keats, 'The Secret Garden', by Frances Hodgson Burnett, and 'The Electric Grandmother' by Ray Bradbury.) Always happy to make another seat at the table, she took in friends' kids, step kids, neighbor kids, and anyone who needed a bonus mom. Balancing motherhood and full-time work, Mary switched from teaching to working as a home care coordinator at Senior Services of Kalamazoo. Over her 20 years at Senior Services, she was known as a compassionate advocate for self-determination and dignity for aging people. After Mary and Robert divorced in 1988, she moved from Kalamazoo to a little house on Pickerel Lake, in Scotts. She married James Trotter in 1994, and they divorced in 2005. Mary retired from Senior Services and returned to her first love: teaching. As an elementary teacher at Northeastern and Winchell in Kalamazoo Public Schools, "Mrs. Trotter" as she was known to many students, provided an inclusive haven for learning. A warm and gifted teacher, she reserved a special affinity for students with learning and emotional challenges. She loved to engage in creative student projects, such as publishing recipe books to fund yearly field trips to Chicago with her class. She was featured in the Kalamazoo Gazette in 2009 for her project with fourth grade students, "Dear Me", in which she had students write letters to themselves about their hopes for the future. She saved each one and personally delivered them, year after year, to her former students upon their high school graduations, even after she retired from teaching. Mary was well-liked and admired by people in every sphere of her life. Friendly, resourceful, energetic, hard-working, and genuinely interested in other people, she radiated a wholesomeness unrivaled by Mr. Rogers and Mary Poppins. In fact, she was the kind of person mentioned by Mr. Rogers in his famous advice to children "Look for the helpers." Very few people embodied the spirit of helping more than Mary. After her retirement from teaching in 2007, Mary stayed busy working part-time as a caregiver to the elderly, babysitting, and acting as a teaching patient at the WMU medical school. She was happiest when she was busy, surrounded by people and dogs, with the phone constantly ringing. Her house on Pickerel Lake was a noisy hub for family, grandkids, friends, and neighbors. A devoted grandmother, she attended her grandkids' birthday parties and sports events. She appreciated the simple pleasures of a good garage sale, a stack of library books, searching for rocks on the beach, planting in her garden, and falling asleep to the 11 o'clock evening news each night with her dog. In the last few years of her life, it became clear that Mary required daily support, and she moved from the lake to Senior Assisted Living, and eventually to Memory Care. As her memory and language faded, a vibrant, silly, and playful side to her personality took center stage. Despite her challenges, Mary invigorated those around her with her sweetness and humor. Her spirit remained strong as evidenced by the love and joy she shared with everyone who met her. She was aided by a dedicated community of staff, family, friends, former students, and members of her church who visited, sent cards, called, and rallied for her with prayers and encouragement. She felt loved, and she brought out the best in others until her last day. She leaves a legacy of joy for us to carry forward. Mary is survived by her younger sister, Kathy (Rick) Sokol, and her younger brother, Lee (Rosemarie) Telfer, her four children, six grandchildren (Raine, Eli, Brody, Braylon, Noel, and Julian), many nieces and nephews, stepchildren (Doreen (Brent) Tubergen, Mike Trotter, Mark (Gigi)Trotter, Cathy Trotter) and step grandchildren. She is predeceased by her parents and older brothers David and Dan Telfer. She leaves behind many dear lifelong friends. A celebration of life will be held at the First Congregational Church of Kalamazoo, on Friday April 25, 2025 at 2:00 p.m. so that the many people who loved Mary can celebrate her life. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in her honor to the Humane Society, the ACLU, and First Congregational Church of Kalamazoo. The family would like to extend a special thanks to those dedicated and loving staff members of Northwoods Village and Hawthorn Landing of Kalamazoo