Eleanor Dickinson Baker of East Hampton died at Southampton Hospital on May 1. She was 95 and had been in good health until April 15.
Born in Montauk at Third House on December 21, 1918, she was the daughter of Frank Dickinson and Loretta Kelly Dickinson. She grew up in Montauk, attended school there and went to East Hampton High School, where she was a member of the girls basketball team. In later years she enjoyed shooting baskets with her children and grandchildren. She attended Skidmore College and graduated from the Katharine Gibbs Secretarial School of New York.
She married her childhood sweetheart, David C. Baker, DDS, on November 27, 1941, and they were married for 62 years until Dr. Baker died in 2003.
She worked at Woodhouse Publishing in New York and at E.T. Dayton Insurance Company in East Hampton while raising a family and lived on David’s Lane. She was an excellent swimmer and loved the ocean beach. She and many of her close friends frequented Wiborg Beach, especially on Sundays with the New York Times crossword puzzles. Ms. Baker was an avid and prolific crossword puzzler. She was also an excellent bridge player and was an expert on local genealogy, able to recite many local lineages from memory.
Her travels with her husband included trips to Germany, Austria, France, California, Arizona, South Carolina, Scotland, Florida, Connecticut, Maryland and Bermuda.
Ms. Baker was predeceased by a half-sister, Sarah Hicks; and brothers Phineas and Jack Dickinson. She is survived by a brother, Frank Dickinson of East Hampton; and sons, David C. Baker Jr. and wife Carol of Maryland and Dickinson Baker and wife Pamela Pospisil of Shelter Island. Also surviving are her grandchildren, Lt. Commander David C. Baker III of Nevada, Commander Jonathan Baker of California, Katherine N. Martin of Maryland and Lauren Baker of New Jersey; and five great-grandchildren, Brady and Allison Martin, and Jack, Ryan and
Joshua Baker. Also surviving is longtime family friend and caregiver Sunoko Minimora.
Memorial donations may be made to Southampton Hospital 3 North, 240 Meeting House Lane, Southampton, NY 11968, attention of Steven Bernstein.
on May 19, 2014