G. Carson Baker's Cunningham Catalog — The Baker Family

Dorothy Baker

Born: April 17, 1911
Married: July 27, 1935, Orville Aloysius Parkes (Norrie) (1909)
Children: Ronald Guest (1938), Douglas George (1946), Richard Lawrence (1951)
Died: 1997

Dorothy Frances Baker grew up on Woodbine Ave in Rochester's 19th Ward. Much to her mother's dismay she would later be called "Dot." When she was in her late teens, Dot met her husband Norrie. (His full name was Orville Aloysius Parkes, named after his mother's favorite characters from a book). To be able to see each other, since one lived on Highland Ave. and the other on Woodbine, Dot and Norrie would each walk to Mount Hope Cemetery and meet at the same gravestone each time.

Dot inherited her father Carson's artistic and design talents, and attended the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) as did Norrie. She was an artist and loved painting. She was also a master at coloring black and white photos with paints. She sewed, did ceramic pottery, played the piano, and was active in her church wherever she lived - always singing in the choir, and active in the women's associations.

Norrie had beautiful craftsmanship in illustrations and in the matching of the color for artificial ears and noses. He became head of the Department of Medical Illustration at the Medical College of Georgia, and Dot and Norrie raised their family there.

Dot carried on the neatness trait from her mother, always making sure that her three boys and her husband had spic-and-span white shoes, and her washer and dryer were always in use to assure her of spotless clothes for her family to wear. Caring for others, with her quiet gentle manner and her warm broad smile, along with her servant heart, made her a friend to many. Her patient spirit seemed endless.

Dorothy (left) with her sister Margaret in front of their home on Woodbine Ave.

Later in her life she took to making dolls and their clothes. Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls were her specialty as well as baby dolls. Her many handcrafted, precious individual dolls became the gifts and delight of many children and adults as well. Her final days were spent in South Carolina, and she died in 1997 at age 86.