Kathryn Turner Baker

Class of 1960

I was born in Weiser, ID on June 23, 1942, the 2^nd of three children to Guy and Lorena Smith Turner. I grew up in the Turner house on the Oregon Side and attended Jefferson School from first to eighth grades. I graduated from 8^th grade in a class of six students, considered a fairly sizable class at the time. I then attended Weiser High School. After graduation I attended College of Idaho in Caldwell, ID.

I married Larry Baker in 1963. We settled in Portland OR where Larry worked as a diesel mechanic and in sales and maintenance for Poulson Wilson. I worked for Transportation Equipment Rentals (a subsidiary of Consolidated Freightways) until the birth of our daughter, Donna, in 1966. David was born three years later in 1969.

My dad was retiring from farming, and my brother John asked Larry if he would be interested in joining the farm principally to run the maintenance shop. We moved to the farm in 1973 and were joined by my cousin Dorothy Turner Hogg and her husband, Jim shortly thereafter.

John, Larry and Jim successfully ran the farm together for over 30 years. When Larry passed away unexpectedly in 2002 at the age of 59, I became the office manager for the farm. I worked in that capacity through John’s death in 2006 and until our 105-year-old family farm was sold in 2021. I am now retired and live in Weiser. The community has been good to me for my entire life. I plan to stay here as long as possible.

From Kathryn Turner Baker