PIEDMONT -- Funeral service for the Rev. Samuel E. Baker was held July 28 in the Duddleston Funeral Home Chapel in Raymondville, Texas. The Rev. Rick Copple officiated.

Baker, 69, died Tuesday, July 25, 1995, at Valley Baptist Medical Center in Harlingen, Texas.

He was born Nov. 16, 1925, at Piedmont, son of the Rev. and Mrs. C.R. Baker. He and Georgia M. Bracken were married July 28, 1952.

Baker served pastorates in New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas, Louisiana and Texas. He designed and built new churches in Kingsville and Electra, Texas. He was a member of Mid Valley Church of the Nazarene.

For 12 years he was a chaplain with Boy Scouts of America and Order of the Arrow in New Mexico and Oklahoma. Baker served in the U.S. Coast Guard during World War II.

Survivors include his wife; two sons, Richard Baker of Electra, Samuel Baker Jr. of Raymondville; five daughters, Rhonda Treash of Tulsa, Okla., Rose Hutchings of Tampa, Fla., Risce Wishert of Corpus Christi, Texas, Sheila Garza of Kingsville, Georgia Tompkins of Electra; two brothers, the Rev. Charles Baker of Belle, Joseph Baker of Fredericktown; four sisters, Ethel Baker and Mable Sample of Patton, Thelma Stone of Chaffee, Jane Barnes of Las Cruces, N.M., and 12 grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by a brother and sister.