Cornelia Louise (Baker) Baxter “Nela”, of Westport, Mass. and Damariscotta, died Feb. 14 of complications following a stroke.
Born in Boston, Mass., Sept. 16, 1919, she was the eldest daughter of Edith Clifford (Prescott) Baker and Theodore Colcord Baker of Brookline, Mass.
She attended the Park School, graduated from Winsor School in 1938, married James Phinney Baxter IV in May 1941, and lived in the Chicago, Ill. area until 1980 when she and her husband retired to South Bristol. They divorced in 1986.
In the Chicago, Ill. area she was an active volunteer and served as president of the Winnetka Public School Nursery, The Junior Board of the Scholarship and Guidance Assn., The Women’s Board of The Art Institute of Chicago and the Women’s Board of the Chicago Urban League for two terms, which she helped found in 1964. She was an elected trustee of the St. Charles Public Library, a member of the University of Chicago Women’s Board, the Museum of Contemporary Arts, The Junior League of Chicago, the Friday Club and the Contemporary Club.
She is survived by her close friend, Benjamin Chase Gifford of Westport, Mass.; daughter, Edith Prescott Baxter of Bedford, Mass.; grandson, Jonathan Baxter Cope, wife Carolyn Gratzer Cope and their daughter, Adelaide Kathryn Cope of Hoboken, N.J.; sister, Frances Baker MacAusland of Dedham, Mass.; and 14 nieces and nephews.
Donations may be made in her honor to Miles Health/Hopice, 40 Belvedere Rd., Damariscotta, ME 04543.
Funeral services are private and under the direction of Waring-Sullivan Homes of Memorial Tribute, Fall River, Mass.
