Friendswood Historian and longtime resident Joycina Baker passed away peacefully on Sunday morning at 94 years of age. Her legacy of faith, family, and education will be forever remembered by the community she loved so dearly.
After graduating college, Baker settled in Friendswood in 1948 with her husband, Jim Baker. Together they opened the Baker Food Market which remained in operation well into the 1980s.
Since then, Baker worked tirelessly to preserve and promote local history through the Friendswood Historical Society, the Galveston County Historical Commission, and the Texas State Historical Society. She also worked with Friendswood ISD to educate 2nd and 3rd grade students with her “Trunk Lady” traveling history lessons and Brown Museum tours.
In 1995, as Friendswood celebrated its Centennial, Baker published her book, Friendswood – A Settlement of Friendly Folks, which chronicles the city’s history all the way back to the murder of Green Butler in 1872 on the land that would later become Stevenson Park.
In 2012, Baker championed the effort to install 7 historical markers throughout Friendswood and the following year she was appointed Official Historian of Friendswood.
“I, like many Friendswoodians, was deeply saddened over the news of Joyce Baker’s passing” said Mayor Mike Foreman. “Joyce was our official City Historian and a true Friendswood Legend. I will miss her stories about how our community began and how it evolved into the great place it is today. Mostly, I will miss her friendship.”
In recognition of her contributions and the wealth of knowledge and history that she has preserved, a room at the Friendswood Public Library has been officially dedicated as the Joycina Baker Community Room. The library is also working with the Friendswood Historical Society to digitize her entire collection of documents and photographs and publish them online at https://friendswood.omeka.net.
A Personal Note from the Publisher…
I was first introduced to Joyce Baker in 2013 when I volunteered to build a website for the historical society. Admittedly, I knew very little about our history back then. She never held that against me, though. In fact, I think she relished the opportunity to share her knowledge with a new pupil. And I’ve been enamored with those stories ever since.
I mention this because I want to highlight my favorite part of Joyce’s legacy. You see, the Reporter News has been around for nearly 40 years, but we were not the first newspaper in Friendswood. That distinction belongs to the Baker Bulletin, a weekly newspaper published from 1954 to 1966 by Joyce Baker herself.
Written on a mechanical typewriter and adorned with hand-drawn graphics, the Baker Bulletin was available for free at Baker Food Market and in every post office box. On one side, readers would find all the specials of the week for the local grocer, and on the other were all manner of announcements submitted by Friendswood residents. Little league practice, tax filing reminders, school announcements, even classified ads were common occurrences in the bulletin. You can see many examples of the Baker Bulletin on the Library’s digital archive at https://friendswood.omeka.net.
I also want to encourage you to pick up a copy of Joyce’s book, Friendswood – A Settlement of Friendly Folks. I know you will love it because, frankly, if you weren’t the nostalgic type you probably wouldn’t be reading a newspaper.
