04.29 Ledger 01 - The Cherokee Ledger-News

8 THE CHEROKEE LEDGER-NEWS NEWS APRIL 29, 2009
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Canton lawyer, avid volunteer dies at 73
BY ERIKA NELDNER
erikaneldner@ledgernews.com
A local family and the community
are remembering a man who
made a strong impact on law, government
and civic organizations
in the county.
Elliott Rice Baker, of Canton,
died April 19, 2009.
He was 73.
Baker’s life exemplified community
service. He served as the county
attorney, the Blue Ridge Circuit
Solicitor and special Assistant Attorney
General for the state of
Georgia.
He was a charter member and
former president of the Cherokee
County Chamber of Commerce, a
charter member of the Cherokee
County Development Authority,
past president of the Jaycees, and
was instrumental in the development
of Kenny Askew Park as past
president of the Cherokee County
Recreation and Parks Authority.
He was a deacon and member of
the First Baptist Church of Canton.
Baker’s son, Jay Baker, of Canton,
said his father was known to
think of others before thinking of
himself.
“He was the most selfless person
I’ve ever met,” said Jay Baker, a
sergeant with the Cherokee County
Sheriff’s Office. “He always put
other people before him.”
Baker also was known to take in
children who didn’t have a place to
go. He and his wife, Ginnie, adopted
Tony Baker in 1978, after Tony’s
journey from Vietnam where he
was born.
“When I was in first grade, Dad
was representing a family from
Vietnam,” Jay Baker said, adding
that Tony Baker didn’t have a place
to go at that time. “He said, ‘Let me
have him.’ He just brought him
home.”
After practicing many years of
law, just like his dad, Tony Baker
now is a Cherokee County Juvenile
Court Judge.
Tony Baker wasn’t the only child
brought into the Baker’s house-
SPECIAL
Elliott Rice Baker, of Canton, left, is pictured with his son, Jay Baker, right,
and grandson Grayson, now 8. Elliott Baker died April 19, 2009.
hold. Three children were part of a
murder case Baker was defending.
Baker fostered the youngest child
who was left alone in the aftermath
of the murder trial. That child,
who was about 7 years old at the
time, grew up in the Baker family
until he left for college.
Birdie Baker Morris, Baker’s
daughter, practiced law with her
father after graduating from law
school. She practiced with him for
two years and said it was one of the
best times of her life.
Baker was born to be a lawyer,
but he took an unusual path to get
to his practice. He earned a master’s
degree from Auburn University
in economics and planned to
become a professor, but, when his
dad got sick, he came home to run
Baker Funeral Home, which now
is known as Sosebee Funeral
Home.
He attended Gupton-Jones Mortuary
College in Nashville, Tenn.,
where he learned to be an undertaker.
Following his father’s death,
Morris said her father attended
night law school at John Marshall
Law School to earn his degree. He
passed the bar the very first time.
Morris, of Herndon, Va., said her
father knew how to work with a jury
and represent his clients, and he
practiced law with common sense.
“He had a way of making the jurors
feel connected,” Morris said.
“He’d tell the life stories of his
clients. He was really able to relate
his clients to the jurors.”
He also would represent people
who needed it but didn’t have the
money to pay.
“He didn’t turn them away, even
if he knew they weren’t going to
pay,” Morris said. “I’ve seen him
get corn and tomatoes as fees. I’ve
seen a guy do yard work for fees. It
was often not about the money. He
was a very human person. He wasn’t
the stereotypical lawyer. He was
a counselor, the way, in a perfect
world, a lawyer should be.”
Baker was preceded in death by
his parents, Mary and Howard
Baker; brother, Tommy Baker; and
grandson, Nicholas Aidan Morris.
He is survived by his wife, Ginnie
Croft Baker, of Canton; children,
Mary Delilah “Birdie” Morris, of
Herndon, Va., Elizabeth Lee Baker
Royal, of Newnan, Tony Baker and
Jay Baker, both of Canton; and 10
grandchildren.
Services were held April 21 at
First Baptist Church of Canton,
with Rev. Charles Davis and Dr.
George Anderson officiating.
Sosebee Funeral Home in Canton
was in charge of arrangements.