Rankin1220web

For Jim, the house was his grandmother’s home,
then his parents’ and now is a place where the Bakers’
five grandchildren visit them. Three generations
have captured and retained countless memories for
Mary Ann and Jim, as well as for family and friends.
Pelahatchie was home to Mary Ann’s parents,
and even though their property touched the backside
of Jim’s yard, Jim and Mary Ann didn’t start dating
until her senior year in high school. (A wartime job
of building Homestead Air Force Base had carried
Mary Ann’s dad and family to Florida until moving
back to Pelahatchie her tenth-grade year.)
Jim graduated the year before Mary Ann but
came home to Pelahatchie on weekends. Some mutual
friends arranged for a foursome after a Sunday night
church service, and romance budded. It bloomed
over the next five years of their dating.
Mary Ann Davis and Jim Baker were wed in
Pelahatchie Baptist Church on July 17, 1965. Jim
worked in retail the following years – jobs that took
his family to Texas and Louisiana before moving
back “home” in 1991.
The couples’ two daughters, Clair and Lauren,
and their families, have been entertained with stories
about Jim’s childhood. They can take you to the urn
in the cemetery adjacent to their property where Jim
hid his school day quizzes that got an F grade.
The home place was just a block from the school,
so Jim left for class when he heard the school bell
ring. He’s also described how his mother pruned the
bush across from the church, getting switches to
discipline his bad behavior in church. On one
occasion he demonstrated his new skill at whistling
– in the middle of the sermon. Out he went with his
mother to the “switch” bush!
Hometown RANKIN • 43