Orlando Sentinel, The (FL)
Saturday, February 17, 1996
ADVENTURER, STORE OWNER LEIGHTON BAKER DIES AT 78 THE FORMER STATE LEGISLATOR'S GUN SHOP HAS BEEN A MOUNT DORA FIXTURE FOR 43 YEARS.
Leighton Baker, a former state legislator, gun store owner, mountain man, explorer, master gunsmith and storyteller extraordinaire, died Thursday after a short bout with cancer.
He was 78.
''He was the most accomplished man I've ever known,'' said his son Carey.
He could fly a plane and speak Spanish. An expert on Central and South America, he had a cattle ranch in Colombia for 30 years. He went white-water canoeing at the age of 69 and hunted jaguars, said Carey Baker.
A native of Durand, Ill., Baker came to Lake County in 1953 from Denver, where he had purchased the A.W. Peterson Gun Shop.
He moved the gun shop, founded in 1879, to Mount Dora where he and his wife raised four boys.
Baker had a love of adventure. When he wasn't running the store - selling, fixing and building guns - he was exploring.
He took long-distance canoe trips in the Yukon, and for 14 winters he led expeditions of hunters, sightseers and photographers through the jungles of Central America.
He loved to roam the West and wrote a book titled Jim Baker, the Red-Headed Shoshoni, about a pioneering mountaineer.
In 1962 and '63 he found time to run and serve in the Florida Legislature.
He was the first Republican elected to office in Lake County since Reconstruction and was a delegate to the 1964 National Republican convention.
He was a founding member of the American Mountain Men, a group of adventurers who enjoyed camping out using nothing made later than the 1840s.
Baker was a veteran of World War II where he served with the 79th Infantry in Europe and received the Bronze Star.
Peterson's celebrated its 100th anniversary in 1994. Baker in recent years had turned the store over to two of his sons.
A stroke five years ago slowed Baker but he had been recovering. In recent years, he spent most of his days at the store, where he loved to entertain customers and friends with stories.
Baker was a member of the First United Methodist Church of Eustis.
He was a past president of the Tavares Kiwanis Club, past commander of the Civil Air Patrol of Leesburg and past commander of the Earnest Westbroom chapter of the American Legion in Eustis. He was a member of the Mount Dora Masonic Lodge, the Central Florida Boy Scout Council and the Eustis Veterans of Foreign Wars post.
Survivors include his wife, Ann; sons, Ronald of Salt Springs, Stuart of Mount Dora, Roy of Eustis, and Carey of Mount Dora; sister, Bernita Hudson of Eustis; seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Friends may visit from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday at the Tavares chapel of Hamlin and Hilbish Funeral Directors. Funeral services are planned for 2 p.m. Monday at the First United Methodist Church of Eustis. Interment will be at Lakeside Memory Gardens.
Funeral arrangements are being handled through Hamlin & Hilbish Funeral Directors, Tavares
Saturday, February 17, 1996
ADVENTURER, STORE OWNER LEIGHTON BAKER DIES AT 78 THE FORMER STATE LEGISLATOR'S GUN SHOP HAS BEEN A MOUNT DORA FIXTURE FOR 43 YEARS.
Leighton Baker, a former state legislator, gun store owner, mountain man, explorer, master gunsmith and storyteller extraordinaire, died Thursday after a short bout with cancer.
He was 78.
''He was the most accomplished man I've ever known,'' said his son Carey.
He could fly a plane and speak Spanish. An expert on Central and South America, he had a cattle ranch in Colombia for 30 years. He went white-water canoeing at the age of 69 and hunted jaguars, said Carey Baker.
A native of Durand, Ill., Baker came to Lake County in 1953 from Denver, where he had purchased the A.W. Peterson Gun Shop.
He moved the gun shop, founded in 1879, to Mount Dora where he and his wife raised four boys.
Baker had a love of adventure. When he wasn't running the store - selling, fixing and building guns - he was exploring.
He took long-distance canoe trips in the Yukon, and for 14 winters he led expeditions of hunters, sightseers and photographers through the jungles of Central America.
He loved to roam the West and wrote a book titled Jim Baker, the Red-Headed Shoshoni, about a pioneering mountaineer.
In 1962 and '63 he found time to run and serve in the Florida Legislature.
He was the first Republican elected to office in Lake County since Reconstruction and was a delegate to the 1964 National Republican convention.
He was a founding member of the American Mountain Men, a group of adventurers who enjoyed camping out using nothing made later than the 1840s.
Baker was a veteran of World War II where he served with the 79th Infantry in Europe and received the Bronze Star.
Peterson's celebrated its 100th anniversary in 1994. Baker in recent years had turned the store over to two of his sons.
A stroke five years ago slowed Baker but he had been recovering. In recent years, he spent most of his days at the store, where he loved to entertain customers and friends with stories.
Baker was a member of the First United Methodist Church of Eustis.
He was a past president of the Tavares Kiwanis Club, past commander of the Civil Air Patrol of Leesburg and past commander of the Earnest Westbroom chapter of the American Legion in Eustis. He was a member of the Mount Dora Masonic Lodge, the Central Florida Boy Scout Council and the Eustis Veterans of Foreign Wars post.
Survivors include his wife, Ann; sons, Ronald of Salt Springs, Stuart of Mount Dora, Roy of Eustis, and Carey of Mount Dora; sister, Bernita Hudson of Eustis; seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Friends may visit from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday at the Tavares chapel of Hamlin and Hilbish Funeral Directors. Funeral services are planned for 2 p.m. Monday at the First United Methodist Church of Eustis. Interment will be at Lakeside Memory Gardens.
Funeral arrangements are being handled through Hamlin & Hilbish Funeral Directors, Tavares
Orlando Sentinel, The (FL)
Saturday, February 17, 1996
ADVENTURER, STORE OWNER LEIGHTON BAKER DIES AT 78 THE FORMER STATE LEGISLATOR'S GUN SHOP HAS BEEN A MOUNT DORA FIXTURE FOR 43 YEARS.
Leighton Baker, a former state legislator, gun store owner, mountain man, explorer, master gunsmith and storyteller extraordinaire, died Thursday after a short bout with cancer.
He was 78.
''He was the most accomplished man I've ever known,'' said his son Carey.
He could fly a plane and speak Spanish. An expert on Central and South America, he had a cattle ranch in Colombia for 30 years. He went white-water canoeing at the age of 69 and hunted jaguars, said Carey Baker.
A native of Durand, Ill., Baker came to Lake County in 1953 from Denver, where he had purchased the A.W. Peterson Gun Shop.
He moved the gun shop, founded in 1879, to Mount Dora where he and his wife raised four boys.
Baker had a love of adventure. When he wasn't running the store - selling, fixing and building guns - he was exploring.
He took long-distance canoe trips in the Yukon, and for 14 winters he led expeditions of hunters, sightseers and photographers through the jungles of Central America.
He loved to roam the West and wrote a book titled Jim Baker, the Red-Headed Shoshoni, about a pioneering mountaineer.
In 1962 and '63 he found time to run and serve in the Florida Legislature.
He was the first Republican elected to office in Lake County since Reconstruction and was a delegate to the 1964 National Republican convention.
He was a founding member of the American Mountain Men, a group of adventurers who enjoyed camping out using nothing made later than the 1840s.
Baker was a veteran of World War II where he served with the 79th Infantry in Europe and received the Bronze Star.
Peterson's celebrated its 100th anniversary in 1994. Baker in recent years had turned the store over to two of his sons.
A stroke five years ago slowed Baker but he had been recovering. In recent years, he spent most of his days at the store, where he loved to entertain customers and friends with stories.
Baker was a member of the First United Methodist Church of Eustis.
He was a past president of the Tavares Kiwanis Club, past commander of the Civil Air Patrol of Leesburg and past commander of the Earnest Westbroom chapter of the American Legion in Eustis. He was a member of the Mount Dora Masonic Lodge, the Central Florida Boy Scout Council and the Eustis Veterans of Foreign Wars post.
Survivors include his wife, Ann; sons, Ronald of Salt Springs, Stuart of Mount Dora, Roy of Eustis, and Carey of Mount Dora; sister, Bernita Hudson of Eustis; seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Friends may visit from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday at the Tavares chapel of Hamlin and Hilbish Funeral Directors. Funeral services are planned for 2 p.m. Monday at the First United Methodist Church of Eustis. Interment will be at Lakeside Memory Gardens.
Funeral arrangements are being handled through Hamlin & Hilbish Funeral Directors, Tavares
Saturday, February 17, 1996
ADVENTURER, STORE OWNER LEIGHTON BAKER DIES AT 78 THE FORMER STATE LEGISLATOR'S GUN SHOP HAS BEEN A MOUNT DORA FIXTURE FOR 43 YEARS.
Leighton Baker, a former state legislator, gun store owner, mountain man, explorer, master gunsmith and storyteller extraordinaire, died Thursday after a short bout with cancer.
He was 78.
''He was the most accomplished man I've ever known,'' said his son Carey.
He could fly a plane and speak Spanish. An expert on Central and South America, he had a cattle ranch in Colombia for 30 years. He went white-water canoeing at the age of 69 and hunted jaguars, said Carey Baker.
A native of Durand, Ill., Baker came to Lake County in 1953 from Denver, where he had purchased the A.W. Peterson Gun Shop.
He moved the gun shop, founded in 1879, to Mount Dora where he and his wife raised four boys.
Baker had a love of adventure. When he wasn't running the store - selling, fixing and building guns - he was exploring.
He took long-distance canoe trips in the Yukon, and for 14 winters he led expeditions of hunters, sightseers and photographers through the jungles of Central America.
He loved to roam the West and wrote a book titled Jim Baker, the Red-Headed Shoshoni, about a pioneering mountaineer.
In 1962 and '63 he found time to run and serve in the Florida Legislature.
He was the first Republican elected to office in Lake County since Reconstruction and was a delegate to the 1964 National Republican convention.
He was a founding member of the American Mountain Men, a group of adventurers who enjoyed camping out using nothing made later than the 1840s.
Baker was a veteran of World War II where he served with the 79th Infantry in Europe and received the Bronze Star.
Peterson's celebrated its 100th anniversary in 1994. Baker in recent years had turned the store over to two of his sons.
A stroke five years ago slowed Baker but he had been recovering. In recent years, he spent most of his days at the store, where he loved to entertain customers and friends with stories.
Baker was a member of the First United Methodist Church of Eustis.
He was a past president of the Tavares Kiwanis Club, past commander of the Civil Air Patrol of Leesburg and past commander of the Earnest Westbroom chapter of the American Legion in Eustis. He was a member of the Mount Dora Masonic Lodge, the Central Florida Boy Scout Council and the Eustis Veterans of Foreign Wars post.
Survivors include his wife, Ann; sons, Ronald of Salt Springs, Stuart of Mount Dora, Roy of Eustis, and Carey of Mount Dora; sister, Bernita Hudson of Eustis; seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Friends may visit from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday at the Tavares chapel of Hamlin and Hilbish Funeral Directors. Funeral services are planned for 2 p.m. Monday at the First United Methodist Church of Eustis. Interment will be at Lakeside Memory Gardens.
Funeral arrangements are being handled through Hamlin & Hilbish Funeral Directors, Tavares
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