Baker, Moorman Shepherd

Moorman (Zip) Shepherd Baker, of Blacksburg and Columbia, Va., died Tuesday, March 25, 2008, at 91 years of age. He was born in Columbia, Va., on November 27, 1916, the son of Meade Hite and Katherine Shepherd Baker. Zip, the youngest of seven siblings, all deceased, Dolly Madison Baker Harrell, of Norfolk, Va. (DOB Apr. 8, 1902), Mary Tyler Baker Baber ,of Cartersville, Va. (DOB Dec. 16, 1903), Dixie Meade Baker Owen, of Saluda, Va. (DOB Sept. 5, 1906), Katherine Boatwright Baker, of Columbia, Va. (DOB Nov. 29, 1909), Jacqueline Baker Pepper, of Cartersville, Va. (DOB July 21, 1911) and Meade Hite Baker Jr., of Washington, D.C. (DOB Feb. 5, 1913), was the beloved husband of the late Frieda Arlene Dansberger Baker who passed away July 28, 2007.

Zip worked 30 years for the VA Crop Improvement Association at VA Tech. His life-long passions were family, gardening and life around home. Zip loved the farms, crops and woods across the Commonwealth and turkey hunting. He and Frieda attended Blacksburg United Methodist Church for 50 years and attended annual homecoming celebrations at Oakwood United Methodist Church in Columbia, Va.

Zip was a World War II veteran. He and his older brother, Hite, landed together on Omaha Beach in the first wave of the Allied invasion of France on June 6, 1944, with the 116th Infantry, 29th Division. His brother died that day; miraculously Zip returned home to a long life.

Zip was the beloved father and father-in-law to, Hite and Anita Baker (Perkasie, Pa.), Moe and Anna Marshall-Baker (Blacksburg, Va.), Randy and Karen Baker (St. Simons Island, Ga.), Stuart (deceased) and Vicky Baker (Blacksburg, Va.), and Vernon and Lisa Baker (Charlottesville, Va.); grandfather to Meade, Corrie, Vernon, Tyler, Quinten, Alden, Haley, Marshall, Madison, Gallion, Maury, and Keely; and great-grandfather to Manny, Aderyn, and Ethan.

A viewing for friends and family will be held from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 27, 2008, at McCoy Funeral Home in Blacksburg, Va. A funeral service at the Baker Family burial grounds was Zip’s homecoming wish and will be held at 11 a.m. on Friday, March 28, 2008, at Oakwood United Methodist Church in Columbia, Va. Donations in lieu of flowers, can be sent to Blacksburg United Methodist Church in Blacksburg, Va.