Commentary

Patty Baker was unique, special and remarkable in that her quirky nature meshed with the eccentric qualities of my brother and they, well, just fit together.

Their union was all a part of God's Plan for them...of that there is no doubt.

Our family lost Patty to cancer last week. She was surrounded by love with her husband, Charlie, and sons and daughters, as she graduated to being pain free and perfect.

Cancer is a nasty foe, and she was up against the toughest strains. Patty battled valiantly, but chose the path of quality of life over further heroic measures. That was only about five weeks ago and it was uphill all the way.

Will cancer ever be cured? I hope so, but in Patty's case, she chose to be home to live out her days rather than deal with further poisoning of her body with a slim, slight chance of winning, and an almost sure probability of feeling like crap along the way.

She was the third of fourteen children in her family and I remember her always playful, fun, angular gait as she would walk up to you, usually chuckling about something fun. Thatsa lotta brothers and sisters, and she was an apple that hadn't dropped too far from the tree.

My brother and Patty met while he was at WSU, working his way through a double major education as a nurse's aid in a nursing home. During the summer, he worked in the Waitsburg Green Giant warehouse, for John Delp.

She always laughed that their first date had me, a typical little brother of 20 years of age, tagging along as a "chaperone." We can't remember if it was a Leon Redbone/Leo Kottke concert, or if it was Tim Weisberg, at the WSU coliseum.

A courtship ensued, there was a proposal delivered as she boarded the Greyhound bus back to Moscow, Id., and a beautiful wedding, officiated by pastor Jim Wilson, whose impact on both their lives was prolific.

They worked for the Giant that summer and then headed to California to further his education. Before very long, they made our parents grandparents.

She loved children and when the dust settled, there were four: Tom, Mollie, Daniel and Emilie. We enjoyed many visits to their place in Pullman or Moscow as Charlie finished his education, eventually landing a teaching job in Quilcene, Wash., a small town south of Port Townsend.

Patty soon was working as a parapro at the school, an aide to a young man that needed a lot of help with daily living. They bought a house, made it a home, raised their children, saw them through the scrapes and victories of young adulthood, and anticipated a well-deserved retirement after 30 successful years.

Charlie and Patty were on that course when her diagnosis hit last January and they "gave it the ol' college try," even undergoing surgery in the middle of the COVID-19 protocols.

Her life, her legacy, is abundantly apparent in her two sons and two daughters, her nine grandchildren, and her devotion to her husband. But more importantly, she was committed to her faith in Jesus Christ, and in that we all take comfort and refuge.