By Heather Skinner
ESPERANCE — On October 18th, the community gathered to support the family of father, husband, Central Bridge Fire Chief with 31 years of service, and owner of Double B Electric, Brian Baker.
Helena Baker said that Esperance Fire Chief, Matthew Deffer, reached out with the fundraiser idea when they found out her husband Brian had stage-4 lung cancer on August 25th, expecting Brian to be in attendance at the event when planning began.
Brian passed on September 14th, surrounded by family, friends, and fire department volunteers from multiple districts. Helena was appreciative to have so many people by their side in his final moments and said she doesn’t know where her and her kids would be at the moment if it weren’t for their firefighter family. One in attendance at Brian’s services came out after having moved to West Virginia. Helena is a former EMT and referred to fire department volunteers as a brotherhood and sisterhood.
Helena shared that the fire department was Brian’s home away from home. “He was a kindhearted man, and I was very lucky he was mine. He was my calm, he was my safe place, he was my home. Everything would be a mess, and he’d make everything feel better.” Helena explained Brian helped everyone, she never saw him mad, and the Fire Department, “all respected him. They all knew they could call him at any given time at night and he’d be there.”
He took his service to the community as Fire Chief and with his Double B Electric business very seriously. Helena said Brian canceled what would have been their last vacation together for Christmas when an elderly couple called with no power in the middle of Winter. Knowing the job would take longer than a day to restore power and heat for the couple, the family gave up their vacation plans so Brian could help others.
Helena shared positivity and pride in her husband’s big heart with, “If you don’t keep taking care of people less fortunate than you, or just doing the right thing, what kind of world would we live in? Not a very good one.”
Helena is going to keep Double B Electric running so one of her sons (currently 17) will be able to take it over after graduation, explaining, “We don’t stop doing what we’re doing. When things get hard you just find a way; you figure it out. You can have everything working against you and still find a way to make it work.” Two of their kids joined the Fire Department as well because of their dad.
The fundraiser ran from 2PM-11PM and was filled with people coming to give Helena a hug. There was a raffle of donated items and Angela Burman shared that Locomotions Sports Bar & Grill (on Facebook) was to thank for supplying the activities including a beer tent, bounce house, popcorn machine & popcorn, cornhole, cotton candy, and live band Geezer (www.thegeezerband.com and Facebook). Ken Jones was on site to open the Esperance Historical Museum doors for the day, and Kirt and Linda Feuz ran a 2nd encore of their annual Barn Sale in the Carriage Barn, this time with all donations going to the Baker Family. BBQ Delights (barbecuedelightscatering.com) made chicken dinners. There was face painting, bristle board axe throwing, and Terry Hutchinson and Ed Klingbeil of Traveling Therapy Pigs (on Facebook) were there with Albert EinSwine and Marilyn Swine-Roe.
Before a cornhole tournament, Deffer called the Bakers over to announce, “First I want to thank everybody for coming out and supporting an amazing event for an amazing person. Esperance Fire Department and Central Bridge Fire Department have worked tremendously side by side for years. It’s been a great pleasure working with Brian and his team. We are here to support him today and I want to thank Helena for letting him do and give for what he did for the Central Bridge Fire Department and the community. Brian Baker was the Village of Esperance electrician for the last 4 and half years and did an amazing job for us. Anytime you call him he’d be here; he would help you in any way he could. I’d like to also thank each and every person that made a donation to the department to make this possible. Locomotions is on the top list of giving what they could and doing what they could to help us. Tremendous job. BBQ Delights, Marty and Donna Hebert, everybody, it’s greatly appreciated the amount of support we got from the community. And on behalf of the Esperance Fire Department and with the Central Bridge Fire Department, James and Megan Waddell made a flag to donate to Helena in the memory of Brian Baker and his 31 years of dedicated service to the Central Bridge Fire Department.” Deffer ended with a reminder to support BBQ Delights and Locomotions and that everything they made that day they would be giving to the Baker family.
Brian had been the sole supporter of their household so Helena could be with the kids. Content living on just enough money to pay the bills and do extras here and there, Helena said you can continue to support their family by supporting Double B Electric, which can be found through their website (doublebelectricny.com) and by making sure their kids are alright. Ranging in ages from 9-27 and with 4 grandkids from ages 1-5, Helena expressed they are all too young to be going through the loss of their dad and grandfather.
Helena said for the support, “I’m deeply humbled and very grateful.”
(Left) Helena Baker gathered with her family around Brian Baker’s photo and mementos. Names provided in no particular order: Jessica Mitchal, Will Graham, and Bakers: Bobbie, Zaiden, Trezden, Delena, and Brittany. (Middle) Assemblyman Christopher Tague, Helena Baker, and Esperance Fire Chief Matthew Deffer. (Right) Helena being presented with a flag in honor of Brian Baker’s 31 years of dedicated service.
Cornhole Tournament participants having a great time.
(Top left) Attendees enjoying the bounce house, bristle board axe throwing, face painting, cotton candy, and popcorn. (Middle left) Fire Department volunteers filling BBQ Delights chicken dinner orders and Josh Miller’s Tractor’s hay ride shuttling people to and from parking in Smitty’s field. (Bottom left) Geezer switched venues from Locomotions to the event to play classic rock and roll hits from the 70s to the 90s. Band leader, Tom Nagengast, said, “We’re excited to do it. It’s a benefit for a great person; the baker family’s a great family and it’s tragic what happened.” Bandmates include: Earl Barcomb, Todd Clemmer, Peter Hemmingway, Charlie Morris, and Lighting Tech Dick Galez. (Middle top) Kirt & Linda Feuz running the Barn Sale; all donations went to the Bakers. (Center) Raffle and attendee checking out the Esperance Historical Museum. (Bottom middle) Ed Klingbeil of Traveling Therapy Pigs near Marilyn Swine-Roe, Larry and Kendall Gribben petting Albert EinSwine, and Terry Hutchinson was next to the camera telling Albert to, “Smile!” (Right) Locomotions employees Annmarie, owner Steve Myers, and Ani. Locomotions employees said they couldn’t ask for a better boss; he does so much for the community and is a family man!
Hugs for Helena Baker and discussion in the photo to the right with Esperance Rescue Squad Captain, Duane Diamond, who recalled working together with Brian Baker often. Helena is passionate about acknowledgement of Fire Department volunteers who risk their lives and dedicate their time to service daily. Diamond said about what he does, “If someone says thank you, that means more to me than money.”
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