Montpelier, VT Shirley Martin Baker, age 87, passed away peacefully with her children at her side on August 15, 2018. Shirley was born in Barre, Vermont on November 3, 1930, to Morton and Alice (Bowin) Martin. She attended Barre City schools and graduated from Spaulding High School in 1948. She met her future husband, Emerson F. Baker, while she was employed as an administrative assistant at the Vermont State Dept. of Education. They were married in 1954. Over the next sixty years, Shirleys main focus was on her family. She loved being a mother, wife and homemaker. She was a member of several organizations, including Mothers Club, Home Demonstration Club, Welcome Wagon, and Emblem Club. Among her interests and hobbies were sewing and crafts; gardening and canning; traveling; camping, boating, fishing and picnicking; swimming, exercising, bicycling, and hiking; and putting together photo albums. She loved pets of all kinds, and she had a knack for uniting lost dogs with their owners. Shirley was a volunteer with the Benefit Shop and the Central Vermont Hospital gift shop, as well as a State House tour guide in Montpelier. After her children were grown, Shirley had several part-time jobs in retail, with the selective service and a fuel dealers association, and selling wedding invitations. Shirley was predeceased by her husband, her sister Loretta Chouinard, and her brother Gordon Martin. She is survived by her daughter Catherine Czajkowski and her husband Chris, of Maryland; son Michael and his fiance Donna Deuso Lea of Barre; granddaughter Claire Czajkowski of Colorado; sisters Lorna Bliss and Sandra Broe (husband Ken) of Barre; six very special nieces and nephews: Mark Chouinard (wife Mary), Karen Chouinard Askew (husband Don), David Chouinard, Linda Chouinard Pomer (husband Bob), Doug Chouinard, and Lisa Chouinard Avery; and many second cousins and life-long friends. A private interment service will be at a later date. Donations in Shirleys memory may be made to Woodridge Nursing Homes Life Enrichment Fund and mailed to 142 Woodridge Drive, Berlin, VT 05602, or to the Central Vermont Humane Society, www.centralvermonthumane.org/ donate-online-now/ , PO Box 687, Montpelier, VT 05601.