Mary Bess Baker

Mary Bess Baker Mary Bess Baker, age 71, a former resident of Liberty, Missouri, passed away on Saturday, January 21, 2012 at the Livingston Manor Nursing Home in Chillicothe, Missouri where she had resided since November of 2011. Mary was born the daughter of Charles Patterson and Marjorie Bess (Newkirk) Thompson on May 19, 1940 in Macon County, Missouri. She was a 1957 graduate from Atlanta High School, Atlanta, Missouri. She owned and operated her own beauty shop in Atlanta, Missouri. Following her early career in hairdressing, she earned her nursing degree in 1989 from the Indian Hills Community College of Ottumwa, Iowa. She worked as a registered nurse at the University of Missouri Hospital in Columbia, Missouri until she retired in 1994. She was a member of the Liberty Hills Baptist Church, Liberty, Missouri, Order of the Eastern Star, Habit Music, and the Cornville Singers. She enjoyed bluegrass music, genealogy, quilting, and playing cards on Friday nights. Survivors include two daughters, Dr. Donna Clemons and husband Dr. Mark Clemons of Madison, Wisconsin, and Brenda Kay Parker and husband Rev. Jeff Parker of Chillicothe, Missouri; three brothers, Rev. James R. Thompson and wife Laveta of Macon, Missouri, John Charles Thompson and wife Betty of Macon, Missouri, and David Leroy Thompson and wife Marie of Baton Rouge, Louisiana; one granddaughter, Lydia Marie Parker of New Orleans, Louisiana; several nieces and nephews; and great nieces and nephews. She is preceded in death by her parents; and one sister, Dorothy Sue Thompson. Services will be held at a later date with inurnment at the Powell Cemetery, Atlanta, Missouri. Arrangements are pending under the direction of Lindley Funeral Home, Chillicothe, Missouri.