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- from Obituaries and Appreciations of the Ocean Cruising Club (oceancruisingclub.org)
MRS POLLY BAKER
Polly (Beale) Baker of Millis died on 7 December 2002 in her 94th year. She was the daughter of the late Arthur Messinger and Louise Miller Beale, and the wife of Talbot Baker who died in 1967. Born in Barnstable, Massachusetts in 1909, Polly grew up on Beacon Hill in Boston where she attended Winsor School. She had a life-long love of sailing, spending summers on the tidal waters of Barnstable Harbor and later on Wings Neck, Pocasset. She was an active participant with her husband in the Cruising Club of America, as well as being an active member of the Buzzards, Beverly and Ocean Cruising Clubs. Polly loved sailing in Buzzards Bay on the New England coast aboard Barcarole, the family's 33ft sailboat, and also made several cruises in Europe. She qualified for the OCC in 1985 at the age of 76, sailing transatlantic with me aboard my Nicholson 40, Torch, from Madeira to Bermuda. The Bakers moved to Millis in 1939, where for many years they had a small working farm. Polly was an officer and instructor in the Women's Army Defense Corps during World War II, and was on the original steering committee of the Charles River Watershed Association. She also devoted countless volunteer hours to many favourite organizations - the MSPCC (The Glad Rags Thrift Shop in Westwood), MSPCA, and The Winsor School among others. She was a member of the Vincent, Chilton, and Harvard Clubs as well as The Colonial Dames. Polly is survived by her brother Benjamin Beale of Westwood. She leaves three sons and a daughter, five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
Toby Baker
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1909 - 2002 (93 years)