I met Dr. John Baker in 1995 by following a lead while researching the Fulkerson family of Sonoma County. Still relatively new to genealogy, I was struck by his resemblance to his second cousin (and my grandfather) in appearance and gestures. Dr. Baker had a long interest in history, had visited many of the trails and sites that his family were believed to have been, and was involved in various historical preservation groups (the restoration of his great-grandparent's home being a primary object of his attentions in his last years). He also collected and researched the history of his family over many years. He readily shared this work with me when we first met, clarifying many aspects which I only had confusion and misinformation. He also had several wonderful pictures of the family which gave faces to many members of a family which my own family had forgotten a generation before. Dr. Baker knew many of their stories which he in turn told me -- stories which I never grew up hearing. He also introduced me to other Cockrill Family researchers and my knowledge of the family expanded by several orders of magnitude as a result. We continued sharing our further genealogical discoveries over the next ten years and his warm hospitality and sincere friendliness when ever I would visit him and his family was a memorable treat as well. Always encouraging and with many thoughts about new leads, I consider myself very lucky to have had the opportunity to discuss our mutual family histories with him in such great detail. Considering that the story of the Cockrill family had become extinct to my family by the time I arrived on the scene, I owe him a great debt for helping me recover this forgotten history. How easy all of this would have been lost had our paths never crossed.

From the obituary of "John M. Baker, M. D.":

...A graduate of Douglas County High School in Gardnerville, Nevada, Dr. Baker went on to graduate from Stanford University in 1940 and Stanford University Medical School in 1944. He served his internship on the Stanford Service of the San Francisco County Hospital form 1943 to 1944. After graduating from medical school he served in the Medical Corp of the U. S. Army at the U. S. Army Medical Field Service School in Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, the School of Malariology in Panama, the School of Tropical Medicine at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D. C. and at Rhoades General Hospital in New York.

Dr. Baker completed his general, thoracic and research surgery residency at Ohio State University and received his Masters of Medical Science while he was Chief Resident in thoracic surgery in 1950-51. He was certified by the American Board of Surgery and held certificate No. 287 with the American Board of Thoracic Surgery. He was a member of the American College of Surgeons, a charter member of the Western Thoracic Surgery Society, and a founding member of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons. In addition, Dr. Baker was a member of the Sacramento Surgical Society, The Robert M. Zollinger Club, the American College of Chest Physicians and the Sierra Sacramento Valley Medical Society.

He was an active member of the Sacramento Pioneer Association, the Grandfather's Club, the Oregon-California Trail Association, the Stanford Alumni Association, the Founders and Patriots Society, the Carson Valley Historical Society, the National Steinbeck Center, the First Mayor's House of Salinas City, the Navy League as well as many other organizations.

Dr. Baker was honored with the Golden Stethoscope Award in 1997 by the Sacramento El Dorado Medical Society. Also, he received the Pioneer of the Year Award, 2005, presented by the Sacramento Pioneer Association.

With a maternal grandmother born in a covered wagon near the Humboldt River Sinks and a great grandfather who crossed the plains to become the first judge of Lassen County and later the first Mayor of Salinas City, Dr. Baker was an avid student of western history. He devoted the last decade of his life with great passion and tenacity to the renovation of the house built in 1868 by his great grandfather, Isaac Julian Harvey, in Salinas.

Dr. Baker was a pioneer in his own right. He was the first thoracic surgeon in Sacramento, establishing his practice there in 1951. He broke new ground, terminating the bad on M. D. anesthesiologists, a step forward for all surgeons in Sacrament hospitals. To face the challenge of having little time to operate on a beating heart, he established a surgical-research team and initiated the use of "deep freeze" hypothermia. With the advent of the heat-lung pump, he spearheaded cardiac surgery as a specialty in Sacramento. When confronted with other surgical problems, aortic aneurisms and chest tumors, he devised new techniques. He was also an early staunch anti-smoking advocate, having seen the effects of cigarette smoking in the lungs of so many of his patients.

Dr. Baker love his work -- never regretting a day in his long career. Fittingly, after his "retirement" in 1987, he assisted in surgery for an additional ten years, just for the joy of working with young surgeons.

Dr. Baker was an avid hunter and outdoorsman all his life. He was also an expert marksman and multitalented musician. In 1937, he represented the State of Nevada at the National Rifle Matches in Camp Perry, Ohio. He traveled to New York in 1935 to perform on a national radio show as a whistler and as a freshman at Stanford, he played trombone in the Leland Stanford Junior University Marching Band.

An extraordinary surgeon, a kind and gentle man, generous, considerate and caring, Jack Baker adored his family and cherished his friends.