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BAKER -- Karen Peters Baker passed away on Sunday morning, March 14, at her home in Albuquerque, New Mexico, at the age of 66. Karen was born on April 1, 1943, in Canton, Ohio, to Alice Mason Peters and Henry Oscar Peters, both first-generation Americans from English and German families (respectively). When Karen was seven- years- old, the Peters family made New Mexico their home. Following the medical wisdom of the era, the Peters left the damp Midwest for the healing environment of the high, dry desert after Karen's three-year-old sister contracted pneumonia for the second time. Young Karen attended Zia Elementary School in Albuquerque for a few years before her family settled in southern New Mexico, in the small township of Mesilla Park. Karen graduated from Mesilla Park Elementary, Court Junior High, and in '61, Las Cruces High School. Karen continued her studies in Las Cruces at New Mexico State University, where she earned a Bachelor's of Business Administration, with a Major in Accounting, in 1965. While on a summer break from NMSU, on the 4th of July, 1962, Karen met Pleddie Baker, then a Physics major, on a fateful blind date at Elephant Butte Lake. They wed in Las Cruces, on January 31, 1964, and recently celebrated their 46th anniversary surrounded by dear friends, family, laughter, and love. Following the course of Pleddie's career with NASA, the young Baker family moved to Florida and to Texas, and then ultimately returned to New Mexico in 1977. Karen and Pleddie raised their four children on a 21 acre farm in Dona Ana County, as well as fields of cotton, alfafa, seed onions, and pecan trees. As Karen's young children grew older, the family left the farm and moved closer to the city. Karen worked professionally for more than a decade and then decided to pursue her long-time dream of starting her own business. Karen honored her life-long love of fabric and sewing with the opening and operation of Karen's Creative Fabrics, with locations in Las Cruces and El Paso. Through this dedicated work, Karen touched the lives of countless people from all over Southern New Mexico and West Texas. She taught classes on basic and advanced sewing, garment drafting and construction, quilt design, and much more. With her wealth of experience, warm enthusiasm and patient, gentle way, she supported, encouraged, inspired, and educated her students and friends in the great craft of sewing, empowering them to find great joy as she always did in their own creative spirit and abilities. Karen was an optimist and an easy-going, hard-working lady. Her laughter was loud and filled a room with light. She believed that worrying was a waste of time and that it was always a good time for good food. She treated people with kindness, compassion, and respect. She filled her life with creativity and love. She taught much by way of her strong, peaceful example. When she was diagnosed with short-term, terminal cancer, she only wished to be at home, surrounded by family and friends, and to finish two sewing projects she'd planned for her sons. Karen is dearly missed by her family: devoted husband, Pleddie Baker; her four children, Edward Baker, McLeod Baker, Laurie Tarbell, and Jenny Reimer; her six grandchildren, Stephan and Harley Baker, and Lillian, Brennan, Aidan, and Kaitlyn Reimer; her younger sister, Penelope Hawk and nephew, Tony Peters; her older sister, Phyllis Connolly, and nephews and niece Michael Jr., Patrick, Kevin, and Laura Connolly. and her brother- and sister-in-law, Parham and Kathleen Baker. In lieu of flowers or gifts for Karen's family, memorial donations can be made to the NM non-profit organization that Karen volunteered for throughout the last years of her life: Casas de Vida Nueva: www.cvnfarm.org/ A life celebration will be held in memory of Karen Peters Baker, on Thursday, April 1, 2010 at 6:30 p.m., at the NM Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum, 4100 Dripping Springs Road, Las Cruces, NM. All who knew her and her family are welcome to attend.
        Published on: Sun March 28, 2010