Krishnan
I was a Rotary Foundation exchange student from India at the University of Florida in 1982 and Dr. Baker was my local guardian. A few days after I settled in, Dr. Baker invited me to his house and to a wonderful vegetarian dinner that his wife, Marjorie, rustled up. She instantly put me at ease, with her ready wit and enthusiastic conversation.
I remember we drove to a nearby mall to pick up his older daughter from dance class. We walked around the garden, with me trying to use my rusty botany degree to identify American plants!
He struck me as a very kind person and a deeply caring human. He called me a few times to enquire about my stay in Gainesville and the progress of my graduate work in journalism.
I particularly remember the basketball game at the university that the Bakers took me to and for ice cream at Baskins Robbins on University Avenue after that (“hey, you got to experience our culture”) and his scooping up a dozen Gator cups lying on the floor after the game, saying that I could wash them and use them to store pens and pencils. I kept a few for many years. We met a couple of times, at concerts or elsewhere before I returned to India.
For some strange reason, I was thinking about him a lot the past one month. I was saddened to see this news.
My deep condolences to his family.
Krishnan Guruswamy
[email protected]
Palghat, Kerala, India
28 Oct 2018