George & Anne Baird

George White Baird, Jr., 91, died of complications of COVID on January 20, 2021. He was born in Wantagh, NY, the third child of four to Julia F. Baird and George W. Baird, a descendant of Thomas Halsey. His mother, before marriage, was a superintendent of small schoolhouses she visited from Southampton by horse-drawn carriage. His father was an architect and contractor. As a young boy, he delivered papers by bicycle and then raised chickens to also deliver eggs. Later he started a summer lawn mowing business and hired friends to do most of the mowing while he managed sales and schedules! George fondly remembered riding his bike everywhere.

George graduated from BU. He was an Army 1st Lieutenant in the Korean War and often led night-time enemy reconnaissance. After the war he was employed by GE. He married Anne Berry in 1955. They raised two children in NJ, PA, and MA. In the 1960s, he joined Hay Associates as a management consultant. He became a partner and established offices in Boston and Tokyo before retiring with Anne to Southampton and then Bridgehampton, close to family. In 2007, Anne and George moved to Duxbury, MA to live near their daughter. George was known and loved for his singing, quick wit, positive spirit, generosity, and being a kind gentleman.

Anne Wade Baird, 88, died peacefully on March 5, 2021. She was born in Memphis, TN and remembered a time when her family took in boarders, her mother trying kindly to feed homeless men who knocked at their back door, roller skating everywhere, and her father allowing his hunting dogs inside the house only on Christmas Day. Her father became a car dealership owner, and her mother sent her off to college with an elegant wardrobe she sewed herself. Anne graduated from University of IN and became a high school English teacher. Anne earned her M.A. in English Literature from Temple University while raising their two small children and later taught in Cohasset, MA, and NYC.

During her lifetime, Anne volunteered for Fair Housing, The League of Women Voters, and as a school committee member. She taught English to exchange students their family hosted and to Japanese businessmen when she and George lived in Tokyo. Later in life, she and George helped take care of George’s parents for a time in Southampton and were active members of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the South Fork. Anne was especially known for her kindness and encouragement.

George and Anne would have celebrated their 66th anniversary this summer. They were truly inseparable and in love. Together they enjoyed gardening, dancing, sailing, traveling, many close friendships and family.

Anne and George are survived by their daughter, Julianne Lillys and husband, Theodore, and grandchildren Peter and Sarah of Duxbury, MA ; and son, Robert Baird-Levine and wife, Emily, and grandchildren Avi and Kelsey of Bellingham, WA. Anne is survived by brothers Robert Berry and John Berry. George is survived by his sister, Barbara Swift. A zoom funeral for George and Anne is being planned with First Parish Church of Duxbury for summer.