Pop Dukes
Baker [The Elder] checked out on Wednesday, August 19th, at 7:15 am. He was surrounded by his wife, daughter, step daughter, and daughter-in-law-to-be-as-soon-as-we-book-a-date-and-venue. His boyz were recovering from a night with friends and working, respectively, thinking Baker [The Elder] would pull it together and have some good last moments with the family. We were wrong. Dad was right. He liked it that way.
I didn’t know my dad too well, i’m not sure we’ve even hugged in 29 years. we were a couple of lone wolves stuck in the same pack, me habouring a begrudging respect at worst and a desire to please a best, him staying in arms reach from a sense of responsibility. i think.
in an effort to get to know him i accidentally majored in Sociology, and took some classes from Dr. Baker. I found my quiet, introverted father to be a funny extroverted teacher, a performer whose stage was the malleable and hungover minds of 20somethings for 30 years. I think that was his performance outlet, borne of his musicianship which was sidelined by the need to feed the kids.
Baker is great. Simply put. He is easy going, understanding, humorous, and seems to remember being a student once himself. He keeps things easy and relatable ! I am holding off on taking certain class’s so I can take them with him!!
- RateMyProfessors.com
He was always a student; exploring physics, astronomy, game theory, and whatever else struck his fancy. He often bragged of knowing FORTRAN and COBOL whilst his nerdy/beefy son learned that new fangled C stuff. Though we didn’t exactly chat, we could always debate/argue/discuss new findings in everything. I’d venture to say we shared a lot of interests and big brains.
While not a direct influence on my lifting/dancing in a speedo career, he was a supporter in every way short of having to watch me train or compete. When at 17 i jumped into wanting to be a competitive [natural] bodybuilder, dad didn’t hesitate to buy the dozens on dozens of eggs, daily steaks, and preposterously ponderous pounds of protein.
Later, after attending university despite his protestations, the opportunity to dive into my own business came along. Where a lot of dads/sane people would steer their progeny toward the safety of bureaucratic regimes, Pops said “do it.” He always said do what you love, ’cause you only live once. Except when he was in one of his Buddhist phases, then it was ” ’cause you might come back as a cricket’”.
In his last letter to the kids, Dad mentioned his hands off approach to child rearing. It was good to hear, to know that he knew that. Not to be remorseful or anything, I like who I am and a large part of that was due to my ability to develop that sense of self. Just to know he had some intent in it.
In spite of all the headbutting and worse, Dad was there when needed in the ways he could be. He was upset he didn’t get to spend more time with his wife, understandably so. These last few years seemed very happy for them, and it was great.
you can see the space station from Victoria until the 3rd of september. for viewing information check this site. I love you dad. I’ll tell my kids you’re up in that space station.