Mariam Meister Baker

    Mariam Ruth Meister Baker passed away on January 23, 2018, after a long and fruitful life. She was born in her grandparents’ log cabin on Kimball Creek near DeBeque, Colorado, on April 22, 1927, to Conrad and Alethea (Betty) Robertson Meister.
    She and her sisters rode horses to their one-room school of six students. After her parents lost the farm during the Depression, they lived in DeBeque, Clifton, and Fruita, Colorado, until the outbreak of World War II when they moved to Ogden, Utah.  At the age of 16, Mariam was hired by Hill Air Force Base as an aircraft engine mechanic during the summers. She also played on their softball team. She is represented in the B-24 exhibit at Hill Air Force Base as one of the women who helped in the war effort.
    She married Tech Sgt. Wayne Baker on October 4, 1945, in Ogden.  They lived in California; Great Falls, Montana; and then Roy, Utah. They moved to Carbon County, Utah, in 1956 where they built several businesses together including Mountain States Machinery & Supply, and Plateau Mining.  Upon selling the businesses, they moved to Wayne’s birthplace of Star Valley, Wyoming, and founded Freedom Arms.  
    Mariam owned her own plane and was a pilot with 300 hours flight time.  She was a quiet and private woman who loved her family and the outdoors.
    Mariam and Wayne were a team who loved each other dearly.   Wayne often declares that she made all the difference in his life and he would have been nothing without her.  They were sealed in the Idaho Falls Temple in 1977.
    Mariam had a very strong code of conduct. She never criticized, gossiped, nagged, yelled, or complained. She raised eight children born in 13 years without raising her voice. Her children learned by example how to work and behave appropriately. She had a quiet sense of power that her children never questioned.
    Mariam is survived by Wayne, her husband of 72 years, and children Connie (Don) McCourt, Christine (Russell) Wilshaw, Claudia (Ron) Hartley, Bob (Patrice) Baker, Susan (Mike) Hepworth, Don (Claudia) Baker, and Bonnie (Corey) Pantuso along with 40 grandchildren, 124 great-grandchildren, and 5 great-great grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her son Alan, great-granddaughter Candice, parents, and her sisters Alice (Lynn) Smith and Audrey (Frank) Stones.
     Funeral services were held in Freedom, Wyoming, on January 27, 2018, followed by interment in the Etna, Wyoming, Cemetery.