Obituaries

C. Rodney Baker

Photo of C. Rodney Baker
C. Rodney Baker, died Wednesday, March 21, 2018, surrounded by his family. He was born in Harrison, Ark., the son of the late Col. Herbert Allen and Mildred Josephine Holt Baker. He was a fifth generation Arkansan, a descendant of the John Larkin Holt and the John "Jack" Twitty Baker pioneer families who settled in Carroll County, Arkansas in the late 1840s. After graduating from Harrison High School in the class of 1949, he attended the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, and graduated from the University of Arkansas College of Medicine in 1957. He completed the Family Practice Program and one year of Internal Medicine Residency at the University Hospital, Little Rock. Dr. Baker and Margaret Toler Bullard, daughter of William Toler and Mary Allene Frith Bullard, were married on September 3, 1955, at the First United Methodist Church, Little Rock. Dr. Baker practiced family medicine with Dr. John William Vinzant in Fayetteville from 1960 until 1972, when he accepted a faculty appointment with the University of Texas School of Medicine in San Antonio, Texas, where he studied models of primary health care delivery. In 1973, he moved to Little Rock with appointments in the Family Practice Department, UAMS College of Medicine, and Associate Chief of Staff for Ambulatory Care at the Veterans Administration Medical Center. His major interests were the delivery of primary health services by teams of collaborative, interdependent health care professionals (physicians, nurses in an expanded role, and social workers) to support, enhance and facilitate the delivery of health care services in large institutions that were structured primarily for the delivery of secondary and tertiary care services, and the delivery of medical care services in the home to disabled, chronically or terminally ill patients and their care-givers as an alternative to inpatient, institutional care. He was a Charter Diplomate of the American Board of Family Practice, and a member of the Arkansas and American Academies of Family Physicians. He retired in December of 1992. Since retirement he has been an active member of the congregation and teacher of the TeleBible Class of Immanuel Baptist Church, Little Rock, and Woodland Heights Baptist, Conway, a charter volunteer at the Clinton Presidential Center and a docent at Heifer International, a long-time participant in Bible Study Fellowship International, and served on the Governing Board of Arkansas Hospice. Dr. Baker is survived by his wife, Margaret, and three children: Lila Elizabeth McCauley and her two sons, William Lee Grace and Thomas Clay Grace; Dr. William Holt Baker and his wife, Mary, and their three children, Rodney Holt and his sons, William, Seth Cole, and Troy J., Matthew Kyle and his wife, Laura, and their daughters, Kylie Bea and Abigail Jean, and Margaret Katherine Tripp and her husband, Alex, and their son, Owen Alexander; Mary Jo Selig and her husband, Paul, and their three children, Samuel Patrick and his wife, Casie and their daughter, Evelyn McNair, Elizabeth Ann Heiles and her husband, Jared, and Thomas Roman. Also, surviving are his sister's children: Elizabeth Ann Domann, Gustav Kyle Albert Domann and his wife, Cara, and their three children, Katherine Alexandra Brooks, Courtney Elizabeth Eliana, and Barbara Leah Nikolette; and Karl Nikolaus Clay Domann and his wife, Vanessa, and their daughters, Karly Ruth and Amelia Elizabeth Augusta. He was preceded in death by his son, Rodney Patrick Baker; his sister, Barbara Holt Baker Domann and her husband, Dr. Darrel Domann; an infant sister, Ora Emeline; and his parents. Dr. Baker will be buried at a graveside service at 1:30 p.m. in the afternoon, on Saturday, March 24, 2018 in Maplewood Cemetery, Harrison, Arkansas. Memorial contributions may be made to Bethlehem House, Inc., a homeless shelter, 1115 Parkway Street, Conway, Ark. 72032 or the Faulkner County Senior Center, 705 Siebenmorgen Rd., Conway, Ark. 72032. Online condolences can be left at www.holtchapel.com.

Published March 23, 2018

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