Myron F. "Barney" Baker, 84

Myron F. "Barney" Baker, 84, of Glasgow, "was called home" on Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2005, in Mesa Ariz., of natural causes.

Services will be at 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 19, at First Lutheran Church in Glasgow. Interment will be at Highland Cemetery in Glasgow.

Bell Mortuary in Glasgow is in charge of arrangements.

Myron was born June 18, 1920, in Flaxville, to Jay and Alice Baker, the fourth of 12 children. He graduated from Flaxville High School in 1939 and for a short time worked on the Fort Peck Dam.

Following service in the Civilian Conservation Corps in Thompson Falls, he moved to Portland and worked in the Naval Shipyards.

In 1941 he returned to Montana and enlisted in the U.S. Army.

Barney was stationed at a number of stateside military bases as an infantryman instructor/trainer and in 1943 was transferred to the European Theatre where he was awarded three Bronze Stars and earned a Purple Heart for combat service.

While serving with the 78th Lightning Division in the Hurtgen Forest at the Battle of the Bulge he was taken Prisoner of War. In 1945, he was liberated by allied forces, honorably discharged and returned home to Flaxville.

Later that year he moved to Glasgow and together with a brother, Virgil, worked in the restaurant business. There he met Ruth V. Hofman, and they were married on Oct. 5, 1946.

He hired out on the Great Northern Railroad as a brakeman and retired as an Amtrak conductor in 1984 after a 38-year career with the railroad.

Barney enjoyed his retirement years, spending winters in Mesa, and summers in Kalispell, close to his children and grandchildren.

His hobbies included golf, cooking, and fishing, but his real passion was writing poetry. His published poem "Indian Summer in Montana" is one he is most noted for.

Barney is survived by his wife of 59 years, Ruth V. Baker of Mesa; one daughter, Linda Williams and Ken Harman of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho; one son, Michael and Kari Baker of Kalispell; and six grandchildren, Wade Williams, Nahum Tkachyk, Caleb Tkachyk and Cami Ames, all of Kalispell, Flint Baker of Great Falls, and Ian Baker of Helena; five great-grandchildren, Brianna, Wyatt, Maija, Ariel and Luke; two brothers, Clinton R. and Morris Baker of Seattle; and one sister, Shirley Filbert of Seattle.

Memorials are suggested to Hospice.