She's my hero: Marge Baker passes, leaving legacy of community involvement

December 29th 8:36 pm | Carey Restino    

Marjorie Baker, the mother of 2011 Iditarod winner John Baker, died Christmas Eve in Mexico. The Kotzebue business-owner was 79.

Marge Baker, who owned and operated Baker Aviation, Inc. after her husband, Bob, died, was honored by her son during his keynote address at the Alaska Federation of Natives in Anchorage last October.

John Baker called his mother his role model, and said she always persevered without complaint.

"When my father died in a tragic airplane accident, mother was left to raise seven children," John Baker said. "I was six years old when this tragedy struck my family. Never once did my mother exhibit being a victim of circumstances. She faced each challenge with dignity, humility and a can-do attitude."

The younger Baker spoke with pride of his mother's accomplishments as a successful businesswoman who owned and operated her own air taxi for more than two decades. Then he recounted his awe at watching his mother's strength.

"People think of me, or thought of me, perhaps, as so tough. Let me tell you a story about the day we won the Iditarod. As I traveled closer to the finish line, there were so many people cheering me on. I was so proud of my team — but that victorious feeling was brief. On the same morning that I completed the race of my dreams, I learned that my mother was seriously ill. The diagnosis was cancer, her future seemed bleak and uncertain. My family came together in the way she had modeled for us. Even in the difficult times of not knowing if she would still be there with us, our mother inspired us.

"During the weeks that followed the race, there was so much publicity about me winning the race. They called me courageous, even a hero. While watching my mother, I felt neither. I was humbled by her strength. I'm here to tell you the one who demonstrated real courage is my mother. She is my hero and continues to be an inspiration."

Wilfred "Boyuck" Ryan, President of Ryan Air, said he first met Marge Baker when he was in high school in the '60s, and could already tell she was prominent in her community. Later, when he started flying commercially, he said even though he was working for her competition, she never made him feel that way. Any time he showed up at her facility in Kotzebue, she was accommodating, considerate, friendly and respectful, he said. He later worked for her as a chief pilot in the '90s and found his initial impressions to be correct.

"She was a very talented business person — very astute and stringent, yet very considerate," Ryan said. "I think that's what I liked most about her."

Ryan said that while a lot of people can run a business, not everyone can run a business and have the kind of tremendous impact Baker had on her community.

"She always had a sense of responsibility to her community," he said. "Because of her caring and generosity, people were never stuck in Kotzebue, they were always given a free ride, and always treated with a lot of respect, too. A lot of the time, there was never the expectation that those individuals would pay for their ticket."

That balance of social service and profitable business owner is one that is often lost in today's corporate model, Ryan said.

"Marge found the balance to take care of the people she loved and still found a way to keep it profitable," he said.

Beyond the business, Ryan said Baker was the kind of person whose door was always open, and who not only knew everybody in the communities she served, but also understood their family trees and family ties.

"I don't think there's a person in that region she didn't know," he said.

 

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