Nancy Elizabeth Boyd Baker

Nancy Elizabeth “Beth” Boyd Baker, passed away Sunday, August 1. During her 96 years Beth got to see all she dreamed and taste all that life offered. She shared great joys and sorrows, never met a stranger, and always tried to foster the best of those she knew. An educator and entrepreneur, Beth was always working toward her goals, most of which focused on helping others while helping herself. She lived through nearly 10 decades. These were not just 96 years, but 96 years of the greatest growth and change the USA and the world has ever seen. Beth, as she was known by family and friends, was born on “the farm” in Orgainsville on September 21, 1924, to Shelton Goode and Lelia Crowder Boyd, growing up during the heart of the great depression. She was one of the five children that survived their third birthday. Life on a Southside Virginia Tobacco Farm was just the preparation Beth needed for the decade to come. She lived a life many could only imagine between 1940 and 1948. Her mother, a Longwood University Graduate, always stressed education. Beth attended Duke University, Ferrum College, Union College (KY), and finished graduate work at Peabody in Nashville. She earned two Masters Degrees, as well as serving our country in the U.S. Navy as a member of the WAVES. All of this after graduating from Chase City High School in 1940. She and William J. “Bill” Baker, Jr. married in 1947 and they were off and running! Her children Elizabeth “Liz” Baker Gielow and William J. “Bill” Baker III remember their “Mom” as a person who always kept on eye on the future with a firm hold to the past, loving music, history, and art. She believed in hard work and rewards. Son Bill recalls, “Liz and I grew up to the constant rhythms of mother assisting 50 or so young children learning to play the piano. Sometimes there was music coming from the basement and sometimes it was noise…. Nevertheless, mother touched many through her love for music, none more than me.” Never content to just have a job, Baker always looked for a profitable side hustle, from buying antiques and oriental rugs to hiring local craftsmen and seamstresses. After retiring in 1980 from the Mecklenburg County Public School system, she and husband Bill built an incredible quilting business employing over 300 seamstresses and support staff in 7 states. The Patchwork House, as it was known, was a lifesaver to many gifted and talented seamstresses displaced by the fall of our domestic textile industry. Although extremely profitable, Mothers greatest benefit from the Patchwork House was not a fine balance sheet. Instead, she was thrilled by the fine workmanship from her loyal hardworking fabric artists. Bill said as the years weighed on, he pressed his mother to retire. She had other plans. “Mother would often get upset with me as I would often catch her employing others to get ‘cranked up again.’ She was always looking forward.” Her love the arts was not reserved just for those outside the family. Bill explains, “Mom insisted that my girls and [his sister Liz’s boys] take piano lessons, DAILY! Nothing made her happier than watching Harold, Charlie, Emily, and Mary Beth playing music. She was not an easy-going grandmother, choosing to leave a legacy of work ethic and achievement instilled in her grand kids. Beth’s faith in Jesus developed over many decades. Raised in her beloved Ephesus United Methodist Church, she surely had an early introduction to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but those seeds were often pushed aside until mid-life when she discovered that we serve a Living Lord and started to recognize that Jesus was there all along. Walking side by side, they accomplished much and helped many. Just like our Lord, Beth’s greatest talent was finding out what each person was good at and helping that individual amplify their talents into true art. Whether it be a fine quilt, a beautiful piece of furniture, a heartwarming song or a great conversation, Beth insisted that she help others grow to do their very best with the talents the Lord had given them. Bill said, “I have no doubt that mom recently was told ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant,’” Beth was preceded in death by her husband William J Baker Jr., siblings Robert Richard Boyd, Otis Baron Boyd, and Joan Rockefeller Boyd Easley and by her grandson Harold Richard Gielow, Jr. Her heart never truly healed after losing Harold Jr., but I bet she is smiling today! She is survived by her sister Mary Anne Boyd Oettinger, her son William J. Baker, III (Melba), her daughter Elizabeth Baker Gielow (Harold), four grandchildren: Charlie Gielow (Kristie), William Gielow, Emily Warren (Mark), Mary Beth Webster (Horace), and eight great grandchildren:Reagan Preddy, Cooper Warren, Tucker Warren, Abagail Webster, Uriah Neal, Brandan Neal, Jackson Gielow, and Hannah Gielow. Funeral Services for Beth Baker are being handled by Watkins Cooper Lyon Funeral Home. Internment will take place at Ephesus United Methodist Church. Respecting the health of others, a graveside service only, will be held at 11AM on Thursday August 5, 2021. In lieu of flowers the family ask that contributions be made in the name of Beth Baker to The Gideons “LET’S SPREAD THE GOOD NEWS” https://gideons.org, Ephesus United Methodist Church or the Boyd Tavern Foundation.