Irv Baker was born on March 21, 1936 in Oswego, NY, to Edward and Lizzy Baker. Over the last 81 years he was a cherished husband, father, grandfather, uncle, and friend. I am sure everyone in this room knows Irv was a comedian. There was never a dull moment with him in the room. No matter how many times he told a story to someone, sometimes to the same person repeatedly, the story never changed.

Irv was raised on a farm in upstate NY where his family grew vegetables, canned food, milked cows, and took care of each other. He and his mother Lizzie were the fastest milkers in the family. His father, Edward, always referred to Irv as “Pal.”

In Irv’s early years, he drove a tractor trailer across the United States and was able to visit every capital city in the US, to include Honolulu and Juneau amongst his later air travels. He took many cruises, and seen many countries throughout his life with loved ones by his side each time.

He and Nina bought the Mixins and Fixins restaurant in 1988, in St. Paris, OH, where they doubled its size while being able to work with family and friends until later selling and purchasing Lakeland Golf Course.

If there was one thing that Irv loved, it was by far hitting that little white ball. An interesting thing about Irv, is he golfed left handed, and putted right handed. One time, while golfing with his sons Tim and Tom, he was having issues getting the ball on the green with an iron. He tried several times with that iron and was still unsuccessful. He told his sons, “I’ll bet you I can put it on that green with my putter” so he grabbed his putter, swung away, bent the putter into a horseshoe, looked up and saw the ball on the green. Then had to straighten the putter so he could to putt the ball into the hole.

Another time he was golfing with his sons, it started snowing while they were on the course. All bundled up in hats, scarves, gloves, coveralls, you name it…just so they could get a round in. Irv hit his ball onto the green, the snow kept falling as they made their way to it. As Irv putted the ball, it collected snow as it rolled, like a snowman. It was the size of a softball by the time it made its way to the hole and still went in for a birdie.

After selling the Golf Course and relocating to Florida, he purchased the Lake Grassy Motel. Tom and Irv’s Brother, John, and Sister in law, Diane, helped run the motel for him. He was able to be closer to some of his family in Florida.

Irv loved racing almost as much as he loved golfing. He owned a car for many years and loved seeing his number 13 race on Saturdays. His favorite drivers were Ricky Rudd and then Kyle Busch and he always have that grin on his face when they would take the win. He and Tom enjoyed the Coca Cola 600 in 2015 together over Memorial Day weekend.

Irv sold the motel, and he purchased a trailer park in Clewiston, FL. He sold the trailer park within the last couple years and was able to start actually thinking about retirement…finally!

Irv achieved a Hole-In-One on a 129-yard par 3. Most recently he participated in a scramble tournament at the golf course attached to the RV park where he lived. For the tournament he made a lot of the putts for his team.

Irv was able to spend his last two weeks visiting NC for Thanksgiving. He spent some really good time with his son Tom, his granddaughter Melissa and her family. He enjoyed spending time with his great-grandson Landon and got to tell him some of his jokes while he was there. He wanted to play solitaire and the only cards Melissa could find were giant Ninja Turtle cards with huge numbers, which he could see better, but Tom says it’s so he could cheat easier. He was so happy to have had the time with family and even said it was the best thanksgiving he ever had.