Positions: Detective, Houston Police Department, Retired 1973. Private Investigator, Restaurant Owner, and Federal Police Officer, V. A. Affairs.

Born: Summerfield, Louisiana on November 23,1930.

Education: Summerfield, Louisiana Schools, graduated from El Dorado High School, Union County, Arkansas in 1948. Graduated from University of Houston, BS Degree in Police Administration in 1958. Graduate School at Sam Houston University; Huntsville, Texas, 1970-1972.

My fraternal twin, Arnold, and I were born on November 23, 1930, at Summerfield, Louisiana. I was told I was born first which would make me the tenth child of Baley B. and Lillie Elizabeth Perry Baker.

Then, it seemed customary for everyone to have nicknames. Mama told me I was nicknamed, Fat, because when I was born I was fat and had a lot of hair; so Clyde Kennedy, on whose place we lived at Summerfield, named me Fat. Since Arnold had very little hair, he nicknamed him Slick. We were known by these names for many years, and even today people remember us by those names.

I don't remember the Kennedy farm. I do recall moving from there to the Old Perry Place farm near Holly Grove. It was a rainy day, and Mama did not feel that we could make it on the bad roads in the old School Bus. I remember the older boys driving the cattle and mules. I only remember George Vernon, whom we called Buck, and my sister, Corrine, living at home. Ellis came often, and we would see Eurville who had married Mildred Flurry. They lived nearby in Bernice, Louisiana.

When Arnold and I started to school, we would ride a bus driven by Charley Sayers to Summerfield. Mrs. Thompson, the first grade teacher, called me Ira, and Arnold by his middle name, Ivey which was later changed to Ivy. After school, during the fall, we still helped in the cotton fields with the others.

Since George was five or six years older than us, he kept us in line reasonably well, and we counted on him and Corrine for help with our school work. George would have visitors during the summer. I remember G.C. Baker, who was a cousin George's age, and Q.A. Norman, who was Margaret Baker's brother, came to visit. Arnold and I enjoyed their visits because we got a lot of attention during that time. I remember one time when Q.A. Norman visited, Arnold and I climbed a fair sized sweet gum tree, and Q.A. cut it down so we could ride it to the ground. We had done this on numerous occasions on pine trees. However, this time I apparently lost my hold on the tree and fell on my head. I remember when I regained consciousness there were a lot of people at our home, and I could hear Q.A. trying to find a ride to go home. I had such a bad concussion that Dad had called in the Doctor from Junction City, Arkansas.

A few years later, we moved to the family farm near the Old Perry Place in Holly Grove. Corrine had left home, and George left soon thereafter. Arnold and I helped Dad on the farm. The last year we were there, Dad leased an adjoining farm acreage, and Arnold and I had some cotton of our own. Of course, Dad supplied all the seed and fertilizer, and we did most of the work.

On the family farm we always had plenty to eat. We raised all the vegetables we needed, had fresh milk and eggs, but we had very little money. During the summer Bill Baker would visit, and we also visited with Bobby Burley, a cousin who lived nearby. I remember at least one visit by Milford whom I had not seen very much and did not know he was one of my brothers.

I remember visits by Marie and Fred Cramer and Allene and Bob Smith during the summer. They would take us on trips at times, and on one trip we went to Hot Springs, Arkansas. We also visited the Cramer's near Bernice, Louisiana. James and Jewel Cramer were the same age as us, and we were in the same grade at School except in the Sixth Grade, James and I went on the Seventh, but Arnold and Jewel stayed in the Sixth. The school said they did not want to split up twins, but they did. When we moved in November 1944 to El Dorado, Arkansas, I was in the Eighth Grade which in Louisiana was High School; so I went to the Ninth Grade in El Dorado High School skipping the eighth grade altogether.

Again, we were faced with a name change. El Dorado High School would not accept middle names and therefore called me by my first name, Donald. I graduated from High School in May of 1948 and being only 17 years of age I could not enter the service as planned. Corrine asked me to come to Houston, and I lived with her and Fisher on Woodard St. and worked at Henke and Pillot Grocery store until I was 18. I then went back to El Dorado and joined the Air Force. I was sent to San Antonio, Texas for basic training. After that, I was sent to Cheyenne, Wyoming for tech school to be trained in the operation of several different pieces of small equipment such as saw mills, ditch diggers, tractors and trucks. Most of the equipment is not used any more.

After school I was sent to McDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida for about 6 months and then to March Air Force Base in Riverside, California where I was assigned to the 817 Aviation Engineer Battalion. On one of my leaves while stationed at Riverside California, I had met my future wife, Marcia Lee Lanier, who lived next door to Marie on Caplen Street in Houston.

In 1950, I went by troop train to Fort Dix, New Jersey where we went by troop ship to South Hampton England. The trip took 10 days, and I was sea sick all 10 days even though they said it was the smoothest crossing they ever had. I spent 2 years at Fairford Royal Air Force Base in England and came back by troop ship to Fort Dix, New Jersey in July 1952. England had a rainy, cold climate; so we all worked in dress wool O.D. Uniforms. Most of the guys never thought about the weather in New Jersey in July being hot and were wearing their dress uniforms. I was fortunate to wear my khaki uniform, but it was still very hot. I went to my next duty station instead of coming home since I had only a month to go. Due to the Korean Conflict, I had been extended a year, and at the time of discharge, I had served 3 years 9 months and 10 days.

I spent a month at Bolling Air Force Base in Washington D.C., and I believe this was the longest month of my life. In August 1952, I was discharged and flew to Houston on Eastern Airlines. This was the first time I had been on an Airplane even though I had been in the Air Force for almost four years. I called Marie as soon as we landed, and Fisher McDade and Dad came to the Houston Hobby Air Port and picked me up. Dad and Mom were living with Corrine at the time.

I took Dad, Mom, Vivian and Dennis who was a small baby, to El Dorado soon after getting out of the service in Arnold's almost new 1951 Ford. In Louisiana between Homer and Bernice I wrecked Arnold's car on a country road when an old farmer stopped in the middle of the highway, and I was afraid that he would turn into me if I tried to pass on the left of him. We got a ride to Bernice with the wrecker and called Claude to come pick us up. The car was repaired, and we made it back to Houston about a week later.

I lived with Arnold and Vivian and got a job with Western Electric Company. I worked there for about 2 months and then went to work for Gulf Oil in their printing shop. I worked there until Fisher McDade called one day and told me to come to his house and sign my application for the Houston Police Department that he had already filled out. I did and about a month later I was called by Jack Heard who was a recruiting Officer for the Department and later became Police Chief and after that the Sheriff of Harris County to come in for an interview. I was accepted to attend the Houston Police Academy starting on February 15, 1953.

I entered the Police academy, and Marcia and I decided to get married on February 28, 1953. We were married on Saturday by Marcia's Cousin, a Minister. Arnold was best man and Vivian was a witness. The only other person there was Marcia's mother, Lula Lanier. We had a small reception at Marie's later. The next day we went to Corrine's for lunch. We did not have a honeymoon since I was going to the academy, and Marcia was working for City National Bank and could not get off.

Marcia and I moved into a rental house across the street from Marie and Fred, and Mrs. Lanier lived with us until she died in 1983. We lived there for about a year, and we bought a house across town at 5707 Oriole St. using a GI loan. I was a Uniform Police Officer working 10:00 P.M. until 6:00 A.M. shift. I also started attending University of Houston at night before I went to work and did this for 5 years until I got my BS Degree in Police Administration in 1958. I was being paid by the V.A. Administration $240.00 a month to go so I kept going until it ran out. Meanwhile, Donna Lynn was born on November 19, 1954 at St. Joseph Hospital in Houston. Marcia was working for the City of Houston Health Department at the time and took a leave of absence until after she was born and then went back to work. In February 15, 1959, Karen Lee was born at St. Joseph Hospital. Marcia did not go back to work for a while but later went back to the Health Department where she worked until she passed away in 1985.

In 1961 I was promoted to Detective and worked in the Robbery Division where I was a plain clothes officer working on armed robbery cases. Fisher McDade worked in the same Division; however, we never worked as partners. He later transferred to another Division. I worked there until 1970 when I was asked to organize a High School Program to teach high school students about police work. This I did until I decided to take my pension in September 1973.

In 1963, Arnold and I bought some lots to build homes on in the Forest Shadows Subdivision in North Harris County. Arnold then bought a home already constructed on another lot there, and I bought a larger lot in a new section and started construction of a new home in 1965. We moved to our present home location in that year. Both Donna and Karen attended Aldine Schools and later both graduated from McArthur High School.

In 1970 I attended Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas and did so for 2 years on a graduate program paid for by a grant to teach Officers mostly in the changes by the U.S. Supreme Court. I got so busy at work that I was unable to complete a thesis that is required for a Masters degree and therefore did not receive a Masters Degree.

After retiring from the Houston Police Department in September 1973, I was employed by the Harris County District Attorney's Office as an Investigator in their Special Crimes Bureau. I worked mostly on Organized Crime which was very interesting to me. I left that office in January 1979 and went to work as an aide to County Commissioner Bob Eckels. I worked there for 2 years and left and went into Private Investigation on my own.

On December 17, 1981, our home caught fire and burned. I collected the insurance and contracted myself to construct a different home using the same slab.

In 1983, I opened The County Market in Jewett, Texas where I sold BBQ and Deli meats. After a year I decided that I was not making any money, so I closed up and took my losses.

In 1984, I worked briefly for Foley Department Store as a store detective but left again to do Private Investigation. On November 11, 1985, Veterans Day at 8:00 A.M. Marcia had a fatal, severe heart attack and passed away at home. She is buried at Resthaven Cemetery.

In 1988, I met Janet Elaine Isbell through a friend of Marcia's at the Health Department. We were married on June 17, 1989 at Willow Meadows Baptist Church in Houston. We had a large church wedding since neither of us had a church wedding in our first marriage. There was a large attendance of family and friends including Milford who was in Arlington at the time and came down to Houston for the ceremony. I called Janet, Sunshine, since she seems to light up the room each time she enters. The Assistant Pastor of my church sang Sunshine On My Shoulders, a song popularized by John Denver. We had a large reception at the church and a two day honeymoon in Louisiana.

Janet has two children, Debbie Pazderny who has three children and lives in Manvel, Texas, and Jack Isbell who worked as a computer operator in New York and has recently passed away.

In 1989 I was employed by the V.A. as a V.A. Police Officer at the Veterans Hospital in Houston. I was working in the new Hospital under construction and as soon as it was completed, the job was to end. Instead I was transferred to a V.A. Clinic that was still under construction in Lufkin, Texas. I went to Lufkin and returned every weekend until Janet retired from the Houston Health Department in May 1990. We leased a condo until we decided to completely retire and returned to Houston in January 1992.

While we were in Lufkin, Jack Isbell returned to Houston and after working for a short while became very sick. He lived in our home in Houston and as time passed he became gravely ill and passed away on August 18, 1993. Jack is buried at the Isbell family plot at Forest Park Cemetery.

Janet and I are enjoying our retirement. We now have five (5) grandchildren and two (2) great grandchildren.