Mary was born on May 7, 1931 in rural Williamsburg, PA. Her parents were Marian W and Amanda Evaline (Showalter) McConahy. Mary had 15 brothers and sisters, and she was the first sibling in the family to graduate from high school. She completed her education in 1949 from Williamsburg High School. She was twice married, first to Elwood Smith, and then to John Baker. Both preceded her in death.

Mary and her first husband, Elwood, raised six children, five girls and one boy, on a dairy farm in rural central Pennsylvania. She loved being a farm wife and mother. She raised her family in a loving and Christian atmosphere, taking us the church and Sunday School regularly and seeing that we all attended youth activities and Confirmation classes even though we attended a church 10 miles away from home.

Mary loved to garden and maintained large vegetable gardens and many flower beds around the house and barn. She loved to cook. She prepared many meals for relatives during the holidays. We all have very fond memories of relatives coming to our home for dinner at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Mary made and decorated numerous wedding cakes for family and friends. A good word in describing our mother was — hospitality.

Mary enjoyed spending time with her 11 grandchildren, and 13 great-children.

Even though Mary suffered from a chronic illness the last years of her life, she never lost her faith in God and she relied on her faith in God and his promise to never leave us to get her through her final days here on earth. Mary was a blessing to everyone that knew her.