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ROBBIN WOOD
June 9, 2006

Remember Audrey Baker

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Hidden Journaling under name plate reads: Audrey Crawford Miller Baker Audrey Baker was probably the most powerful female influence of my formative years. Audrey was a family friend of my maternal grandmother. In 1946, due to family hardships, Audrey took my mother, then 16 years old, to live with her. My mother, Jean, had a very difficult childhood and suffered from bi-polar disorder her whole entire life. I remember Audrey as a very beautiful woman and she was so different from any one else I ever knew. She was a woman way ahead of her time. She was a career woman way before that was even a common term. She was a union organizer in the 40’s when it was very dangerous thing to do. She was always classy and well dressed. I think my love of jewelry came from her always wearing beautiful pieces of Sarah Coventry jewelry in the 50’s when it was excellent quality and she was a representative of theirs for many years. She was my role model for the kind of woman I wanted to become. Audrey was beautiful, intelligent, hard working, trend setting and out spoken. The love of her life was Johnnie Miller, who sadly was killed in a freak accident when a tree fell on the cab of his truck. They had only been married a few years. I never knew why, but Audrey never had any children of her own. She re-married and had 2 step daughters from her 2nd marriage to Herbert Baker. When my mother was around 40 years old, Audrey went to court and legally adopted my mother, as her daughter. She didn’t even discuss it with her first…much to my mother dismay. My mother always thought that she did it so she would have someone to care for her in her old age. I never asked Audrey why she did that, but I suspect that it was for an entirely different reason. The older my mother got, the more her relationship with Audrey became strained. They were like two tom cats in a bag. My relationship with Audrey remained one of mutual love and respect. She would often send me surprise gifts and checks when I had young children of my own with the promise that they were to be spent only on myself. She seemed to understand the sacrifices that mothers often make for their own children. Even though it was never talked about, I always had a sense that Audrey knew how miserable my childhood had been and did what ever she could to make sure that I felt valued. After being widowed for the second time, and many years of being alone, Audrey met Charles, and she lived with him until he passed away. She had a marvelous time with this man, whom I never got to meet. But they had a wildly wonderful adventure, for a couple of years, until he died of heart failure. Audrey will always hold a special place in my heart and I will always refer to her as the Black Dahlia, a flower of rare beauty. ************************************************* TFL Robbin (__l__)


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