MONTPELIER, VERMONT Emerson Francis Baker, 93, died Monday, March 7, 2011 at his home, with his family beside him. Born in Gloucester, Massachusetts, March 29, 1917, he was the son of Ida Frances (Lorentzen) Baker and William Emerson Baker. He attended Gloucester schools, graduating from Gloucester High School in 1934. He served in Franklin D. Roosevelt's Civilian Conservation Corps from 1935 to 1937 in Weston and Danby, Vermont. In 1937 he was hired as a map draftsman by the Vermont Highway Department. He spent several years in the Vermont National Guard. In 1941 he joined the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. In September 1946 he rejoined the Vermont Highway Department's Planning Division in Montpelier as head of the Mapping Section. He became Mapping and Road Inventory Engineer. In 1973 he transferred to the Vermont Tax Department to head the newly established statewide tax mapping project in the Property Valuation & Review Division in Montpelier and Waterbury. After conceiving and instituting the statewide orthophotomapping project known as the Vermont Base Map, he retired from state service in 1979. For the following two years he was retained by the Property Valuation Division as a consultant, and during that period also served as a mapping consultant to the State of Louisiana. In 1981 he retired permanently from the state, and for several years produced tax maps of a number of towns in Vermont for a tax-mapping consultant. In June 1954 he married Shirley Martin, of Barre. They had two children. Throughout life he had many interests, including boating, picnicking and traveling with Shirley, rifle marksmanship, hunting and fishing, photography, and maintaining his home and grounds. He passed on his love of fishing and fixing things to his son, Mike. He served on many committees relating to mapping, was a long-time member of the American Society of Photogrammetry, and a life member of the American Congress on Surveying & Mapping, the Vermont Society of Engineers, and the Vermont Society of Land Surveyors. He was a longtime member of the Knights of Columbus, 3rd & 4th Degrees, and a life member of the Montpelier Lodge of Elks. For many years, he was a volunteer at Central Vermont Hospital, Washington County Mental Health and several other organizations. He enjoyed a lifelong love of the English language, and copyedited many books, magazines, technical reports and periodicals. He passed on his love of grammar and maps to his daughter, Cathy. His granddaughter Claire has fond memories of playing "Bones" and sharing M&M's with him. In the early 1980s he joined Vermont Chapter 112 of the National Association of Civilian Conservation Corps Alumni, and in 1992 became Secretary, was elected President in 1994, and served in that capacity until June 1999, remaining on the Board of Directors. Besides his wife of 56 years, Shirley, he is survived by his two children, Mike of Barre, VT and Cathy Czajkowski (husband Chris) of Hunt Valley, MD, and his grandaughter, Claire Czajkowski of Portland, OR. He also leaves his sister, Esther Neelon of Danvers, MA and his sister, Mary Tineo of DuPont, WA, and numerous nieces and nephews. He is predeceased by his sisters, Alice Claude and Marge Reger. A graveside memorial service will be held at Wilson Cemetery, Barre Town, in the Spring. Arrangements are in the care of Guare & Sons Funeral Home Contributions in his memory may be made to help create a Vermont C.C.C. museum and statue by mailing to the VT C.C.C. Alumni Association, C/O VYCC, 1949 E. Main St, Richmond, VT 05477, or Central VT Home Health and Hospice, 600 Granger Rd, Barre, VT, 05641 (www.CVHHH.org) or Central VT Humane Society, PO Box 687, Montpelier, VT 05602 (www.CVHumane.com).