Bill Gene Baker

Born in Blackwell, Oklahoma, August 20, 1937, Bill Gene Baker peacefully went to be with the Lord at his home in Norman, OK on November 18, 2024, after a battle with Parkinson’s Disease.  He was 87.  He was a father, brother, husband, grandfather, great grandfather and friend to so many. Bill graduated from Blackwell High School in 1955.  During his high school years and while attending what was then Northern Oklahoma Junior College,  Bill worked for Milligan Drug in Blackwell.  He will be forever grateful to Jone and Ruth Milligan, who opened the drug store in 1926, for his time with them, which greatly influenced his desire to become a pharmacist.  He was a graduate of the University of Oklahoma School of Pharmacy and spent most of his career working for Merck Pharmaceuticals (formerly Merck, Sharpe and Dohme). He was an Officer in the US Navy and was later a ham radio operator and loved transmitting signal for the National Weather Service.  He was an Optimist Club football coach to his two sons and many of their friends.  He was a member of the Jaycees, a member of Southern Oklahoma Bassmaster and an avid fisherman.  His greatest joy was camping and fishing with his three children and taking his family on wonderful vacations. He provided a great life for his children.

He loved music and was very skilled at making beautiful cigar box guitars. He could draw anything he wanted and was truly a talented man.  

Surviving Bill are his wife, Susie, of Norman, OK, his son, Michael Gene Baker and wife, Shanda, of Robinson, TX, his daughter, Sidna Virginia Trimmell and husband, Kevin of Blanchard, OK, his daughter-in-law, Gwendolyn Meister Baker of Owasso, his sister, Barbie Baker Heinen and husband John of Oklahoma City, his step-daughter, Jennifer Su-Mei Phillips, of Houston, 6 grandchildren and 7 great grandchildren.  

He was preceded in death by his first wife Nancy Helen Carpenter Baker; their oldest son, Marcus Wayne Baker; Bill’s sister, Toni Jo Baker Hatton; and his parents, Calvis and Margaret Baker of Blackwell. 

No memorial Is planned at this time.