Edwin Thompson Baker Jr

<View Funeral WebcastEdwin Thompson "Eddie" Baker, Jr., 76, well-known businessman and church and civic activist, died Tuesday, July 21, 2009 at NHC Hillview. Funeral services will be conducted Friday at 2:00 p.m. at First United Methodist Church with Rev. Scott Aleridge, Rev. Frank Smith, and Rev. Jeff Jacob officiating. Burial will follow in Polk Memorial Gardens with military honors at graveside provided by Herbert Griffin American Legion Post #19. The family will visit with friends Wednesday from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. and Thursday from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. at Oakes & Nichols and Friday from 1:00 p.m. to service time in the church atrium. Memorials may be made to The People's Table, 222 West 7th Street, Columbia 38401. Notes of sympathy may be sent to www.oakeandnichols.com. Born May 24, 1933 in Lumberton, North Carolina, he was the son of the late Edwin Thompson Baker, Sr. and Grace Maxwell Baker. He was a 1952 graduate of Lumberton High School. During his senior year he served as student manager and bus driver for the football team which won the State Championship for the 1st and only time in the school's history. After graduation, he enrolled in Mars Hill College in Asheville, North Carolina. During September of 1953, he was drafted into the U. S. Army during the Korean War and served with the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Kentucky as a regimental supply specialist. He also served in the 553rd Military Police Division at Fort Campbell. Upon discharge in 1955, he enrolled in Belmont College in Nashville to resume his studies in business administration. While attending Belmont, he was employed by The National Life Insurance Company in the data processing department. It was at Belmont that he first met the former Elizabeth Ann "Betsy" Daly. They were graduated from Belmont in the same week in December, 1957 and married the next week on December 20th in Nashville. Their marriage spanned 41 years until her death May 14, 1998. Mr. Baker became a sales representative for Burroughs Corporation (now UNISIS) in 1961. He remained with the company for over 18 years winning the prestigious Legion of Honor for 6 years. During his years with Burroughs he introduced several "first for Maury County" in the accounting machine field. Eddie sold and delivered the first semi-automated budgetary computer system to the City of Columbia in the 1960s. He also installed the first automated budget accounting system for Maury County under its first Director of Accounts and Budgets, Aubrey Prince. He installed the first automated payroll system for the Maury County Board of Education under the administration of Bill Evans. In 1975, he sold and installed the first cash dispensing machine in Maury County, allowing customers of The Middle Tennessee Bank to withdraw cash from their checking accounts using a plastic card, now known as a debit card. He also leased to and installed the first true main frame computer system for Local Government Data Processing Corporation in 1979. He retired from Burroughs in January, 1980 to form his own computer sales and supplies company, Columbia Data Systems, Inc. and Connecting Point Computer Center. The first systems sold were mini computers manufactured by Digital Corporation and Apple Computer. The company is currently certified with Compaq and IBM corporations, as well as several printer manufacturers and offers its own private label, PC Computers. He was active with the company until his death. In 1980, after retiring from Burroughs Corporation, he surveyed the need and wrote the "proposal for bid" for the first computer system in the Maury County Budget Director's office under the supervision of A. C. Howell. During this period he worked with Howell and Dailey Witherow of Charter Communications to install the first high speed communications line between the Court House and Board of Education. The initial use was for processing payroll for school system employees from the Budget Director's office in the Court House. Eddie attained Eagle Scout ranking and was involved in Sea Scouts while attending Lumberton High School. He continued his interest in and support of the Boy Scouts while attending Belmont Heights Baptist Church in Nashville and served 4 years as Scout Master of the church's troop. His membership and participation in church activities began at an early age and continued when he moved to Columbia to make his home and as a member of 1st Baptist Church. He served several terms as an active Deacon, Chairman of the Pastor Selection Committee, Chairman of the Radio & TV Committee, and Chairman of the Finance Committee. For a number of years, he has been an active member of 1st United Methodist Church as a Sunday School teacher, member of the Sound Committee, and member and part-time teacher of the Bruce Strother Sunday School Class. As a member of United Methodist Volunteers, he made numerous mission trips to Honduras, Estonia (Eastern Europe) and Mexico as an Advanced Lay Speaker. Since 2000, his main efforts and focus have been working with The People's Table. Mr. Baker served a 3 year term on the Maury County Mental Health Board of Directors and as president of Brown School PTA. He was active in the work of the Maury County March of Dimes TV Auction on Charter Cable Channel 6 and WKRM-WKOM radio for many years. He served as President and Board member of Maury County Habitat for Humanity for many years, during which 12 to 15 houses were built and new building locations acquired in Columbia and Mt. Pleasant. Survivors include a son and daughter-in-law, Stephen Dupree and Julie Baker of Columbia; sister, Emily Ann Baker Skinner of Lumberton, North Carolina; brother, James Vernon Baker of Lumberton, North Carolina; grandchildren, Christopher Dupree Baker, Brittany Leighanne Baker, and Michael Cameron Baker, all of Columbia; niece, Susan (Keith) Gay of Houston, Mississippi; nephew, Rusty (Karen) Skinner of Raleigh, North Carolina; great-niece, Jennifer Stallworth of Memphis; great-nephew, James Stallworth of Ripley; aunt, June Holtz Baker of Lumberton, North Carolina; special friends of the family, Lil Moore, Hazel and Frank Bale, Page Chamberlain, Madison Dodson, Jim Rogers, and Roy Prichard. In addition to his wife, he was preceded in death by his eldest son, Edwin Forrest Baker in 1980. Edwin died at age sixteen from complications of cystic fibrosis. Active pallbearers are Larry Murphy, Madison Dodson, Jim Rogers, Page Chamberlain, Roy Pritchard, Phil Burgett, and David Greenfield. Honorary pallbearers include members of the Bruce Strother Sunday School Class and The People's Table family and friends.