Steven Baker

Profile Updated: October 17, 2021
Steven Baker
Residing In: Santa Rosa, CA USA
Spouse/Partner: Melania Kang
Occupation: Retired
Children: Adrian, born 1992
Laurel, born 1994
Noah, born 1998
Yes! Attending Reunion
Comments:

My wife and I have been together since 1979. In 1983, we started a movie catering company based out of the Dallas area. We provided the food for the cast and crew. We were mainly working for film companies that were based out of New York and Los Angeles and were filming in Texas. In early 1986, we catered the Coen Brothers movie "Raising Arizona", and then, later in the year, were asked to cater a movie to be filmed in Lake Lure, North Carolina - "Dirty Dancing". I had been a good friend of Vicki Swayze (Waltrip and College) and her Mother Patsy and had known her younger brother Patrick (Buddy) since he was fourteen, so it was fun to see him. Small world.

After we finished that job, we opened a cafe in San Francisco in 1987. In 2017, the City of San Francisco awarded us it's "Legacy Heritage" status. We recently sold the business after 33 years of operation. It was a good, long run.

We live in Sonoma County, about an hour's drive north of the Golden Gate Bridge.
School Story:

As a joke, my brother Ronnie nominated me for "Most Handsome Senior". I went down to the office to pay the $3.00 fee, and the clerk told me the one other person who had been nominated had dropped out, so I was automatically the winner by default. My friends really got a laugh out of that. The final note: my last name in the photo is printed as "Bakey" instead of Baker....

Another memory: I was friends with Gary Barton, who was Vicki Swayze's boyfriend at the time. Gary called me one Friday night and asked if I'd like to join him in "egging" Coach Burton's house in the Oak Forest neighborhood near Waltrip. Gary drove a green Volkswagen at the time, and I drove a blue Volkswagen. We stopped by a local "U Totem" store and bought eggs. We drove up across the front yard of Coach Burton's house, and our friends who were "riding shotgun" (passenger side) threw the eggs at the house. Louis Calderera was riding in my car.....

Vicki Swayze happened to read the "minutes" each morning in the main office before classes started. That following Monday, she heard from the faculty that the Coach's house had been egged, and that whoever had done it had been driving a Volkswagen. A baby-sitter at the Coach's house had seen a Volkswagen speed across the front lawn. Vicki alerted Gary and me that we were going to be called in and questioned. On Tuesday, Assistant Principal Burch called me in to his office. He said someone driving a Volkswagen had "egged" Coach Burton's house, and wanted to know if I knew anything about it, especially since they had the names of any kid who drove a Volkswagen. I told him I had been at home studying, and that i didn't know anything about the incident. Gary made up some story, too...

Vicki passed away in the 1990's, and I found out that Gary Barton also passed away recently....they were good friends.

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Ann Bommarito Armstrong
Ann Bommarito Armstrong posted a message on Steven Baker's Profile.
May
30
May 30, 2022 at 6:07 PM

You are so thoughtful!!! Thank you for the sweet birthday wish!!! AND may your coming year be full of happiness and joy!!!!

Steven Baker
Steven Baker posted a message on Ann Bommarito's Profile.
May
27
May 27, 2022 at 8:01 PM

Happy Birthday Ann! I hope you enjoy good health and happiness this coming year!

Steven Baker
Steven Baker posted a message on Lynn Smith's Profile.
May
22
May 22, 2022 at 1:19 PM

Lynn! I'm just a little late here, but happy birthday!!! I hope you have a happy and healthy year ahead. (You look YOUNGER every year...is it that glass of wine every day??? By the way, I wish you still had that beautiful blue Chevy Malibu)

Steven Baker
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May
05
May 05, 2022 at 6:40 PM

Posted on: May 05, 2022 at 12:51 AM

Steven Baker
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May 05, 2022 at 6:40 PM

Posted on: May 04, 2022 at 1:43 PM

Steven Baker
Steven Baker posted a message on Martha Presnall's Profile. New comment added.
Mar
22
Mar 22, 2022 at 10:50 AM

Posted on: Mar 20, 2022 at 12:39 PM

Hope you enjoy your special day today, Martha!

Steven Baker
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Mar
14
Mar 14, 2022 at 12:30 PM

Posted on: Mar 13, 2022 at 12:43 PM

Happy birthday Nancy - I just read your Garner State Park story, and it reminded me of my own. Inspired by the BJ Thomas song "Garner State Park" and hearing about some fun times, my brother Ronnie, Billy Waggoner and I decided to do a road trip there in the summer of 1966. We told our parents we were going camping in Huntsville, but our ultimate goal was to go to Nachitoches, Louisiana to see a friend and then head to Garner State Park. We loaded up our 1953 Ford and headed out to Lousiana. Had a crazy, fun visit with the friend with the help of a case of beer, then struck out for Garner State Park. Made it back to Houston and were headed on I-45 South near downtown when the radiator blew a leak. Called my Dad from a pay phone. He threw in some radiator leak patch fluid, coolant and water and we limped back to our house. Oh well. What luck.

Steven Baker
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Jun
13
Jun 13, 2022 at 5:57 PM

Posted on: Mar 06, 2022 at 12:19 PM

Happy Birthday Debbie! I thought of you the other day when I found a wonderful old photo of your Dad and my father taken around 1945 in Houston just after the war. Your father was wearing his military uniform. They had known each other since they were teenagers, and stayed lifelong friends.
I remember the fun times our families had at my parent's bay cottage in Baytown during the summer months.
I hope you and Carol are doing well.

Steven Baker
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Mar
02
Mar 02, 2022 at 10:58 PM

Posted on: Mar 02, 2022 at 11:33 AM

Happy birthday Glenn! You're getting younger every year! I hope you and Stacey are doing well.

Steven Baker
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Jan
15
Jan 15, 2022 at 5:24 PM

Posted on: Jan 15, 2022 at 4:09 PM

Hi Kathleen-
Was your older sister Mary Lee? Did you by any chance attend Southwest Texas State in 1971?

Steven Baker
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Jan
16
Jan 16, 2022 at 12:20 AM

Posted on: Jan 12, 2022 at 1:19 PM

Well, Butch, it looks like it'll soon be time to put another candle on the birthday cake! Don't these b-days come around fast? I hope you and your family are doing well. I'm planning on attending the upcoming reunion in Houston - it would be great if you could make it, too.
All the best-
Steven

Steven Baker
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Nov
04
Nov 04, 2021 at 4:56 PM

Posted on: Nov 04, 2021 at 12:04 PM

Happy Birthday, Kathi - keep on hiking!

Steven Baker
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Nov
02
Nov 02, 2021 at 6:12 PM

Posted on: Nov 02, 2021 at 2:24 PM

Happy Birthday, John! (Are you 37 or 38 today? I've always heard that a glass of good wine helps one to age backwards, so enjoy one today, and I'll have a toast to you also!)

Steven Baker
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Oct
21
Oct 21, 2021 at 6:16 PM

Posted on: Oct 21, 2021 at 2:54 PM

It's your special day, Tina! May you enjoy good health and happiness this coming year!

Steven Baker
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Oct
17
Oct 17, 2021 at 4:14 PM
Steven Baker
Steven Baker posted a message.
Oct 17, 2021 at 12:31 PM

Congratulations, Linda, on your long career in education. I have the highest respect for anyone in the teaching profession, so I appreciate your amazing dedication in this regard. (My Grandmother was a counselor for the Houston ISD for forty years, and I had several Aunts who also taught school.) I think a long career in teaching is truly "a labor of love." And I know one teacher really can make a difference in a child's life as a source of inspiration and motivation.
Enjoy your upcoming birthday, and all the best to you and your family.

Steven Baker
Steven Baker has left an In Memory comment for Thomas L Jester.
Oct
14
Oct 14, 2021 at 2:47 PM

Although I wasn't close friends with Tom, I remember him from several classes we shared, especially PE. Just a really nice guy, and one you always wanted on your team, especially for "dodgeball " and basketball - (remember "Shirts and Skins"?) My younger sister Debbie was friends with Tom's younger brother, Bobby. I remember in the early fall of 1970 hearing the unbelievably tragic news from Debbie about the passing of Tom's then wife, Linda Cauthorn. I could not comprehend this. They had only been married about two weeks - she was only twenty years old. About a week or two after that, I was in a "Steak N' Ale" on a Friday night with Louis Calderera, and we noticed Tom with a group of his friends, who had brought him out for the evening. I went over and expressed my condolences. Very sad.

He was a good guy.

 

Steven Baker
Steven Baker has left an In Memory comment for his Profile.
Sep
30
Sep 30, 2021 at 3:19 PM

I have good memories about Gary. Nice guy - really funny sense of humor. When I heard he passed, I called his wife and shared some thoughts and memories about him. Fun, wacky times at Waltrip. I told her about the time we egged Coach Burton's house, and were later interrogated by the Assistant Principal, but were able to dodge that one! ( I posted the incident in detail on my classmate profile) One more memory of Gary: during the production of "The Pajama Game" musical, one singer had the line: "If I were a fire breathing dragon" as he looked offstage. Gary - offstage - had a can of hairspray and a lighter, which he proceeded to light just as the singer glanced in his direction and sang that line. It really threw the poor guy off!

Steven Baker
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Sep
20
Sep 20, 2021 at 8:44 PM

Posted on: Sep 20, 2021 at 4:33 AM

Steven Baker
Steven Baker posted a message.
Sep
16
Sep 16, 2021 at 12:02 PM

Hi Pat - may you enjoy good health and happiness in the coming year, and "thank you" for all the time and effort you spend in keeping the classmates connected. We appreciate it!