John Arthur Baker

John Arthur Baker (Jarcy) was born on August 2, 1940 in the small mining town of Rock Springs Wyoming to Elizabeth Allen and Carthel Lee Baker. John and his brothers, Bill and Ed, and older sister Roberta all attended Rock Springs High School where John excelled in academics and basketball. In 1961, while attending the University of Wyoming, John married the love of his life, Lynne Toly. After graduating college with a degree in accounting, John and Lynne moved with their young daughters, Melanie and Brooke, to Cheyenne where John had accepted a position with Cheyenne Federal Savings and Loan. John quickly rose through the ranks at what became Rocky Mountain Federal Savings and Loan. John was very civic minded and active in the Lion’s Club and Frontier Days, where he served as Chairman on the Indian Committee.

Despite their humble beginnings and lack of exposure outside of Wyoming, John and Lynne discovered a loved for travel, and John’s job as well as his leadership in the Lion’s Club took them all over the United States from Florida to Hawaii. Eventually, they started travelling internationally to London, Rome, Montreal and Scotland. They had planned a trip to Egypt which they had to cancel as it coincided with the Arab Spring uprising. But John’s great passion was fishing, a pastime he enjoyed from childhood. He loved nothing better than fishing the lakes and streams of Wyoming and Colorado. He loved the solitary nature of being outdoors in the wilderness. Whether he caught a fish or not was beside the point, although if he caught a fish with one of his own ties, that was the greatest joy.

John and Lynne moved to the Denver area in 1990 after John accepted a job with the Resolution Trust Corporation. This move also brought them closer to Melanie and her family, husband Tim and sons Jack, Liam and Matthew. Brooke and son Jackson eventually joined them in the Denver area as well. He loved his grandsons dearly.

Lynne died in January of 2020, right before the pandemic, and John eventually moved to Brookdale Senior Living where he served on the Resident Council. He made many friends there, and delighted in knowing everyone. He was the first to arrive at the Friday afternoon cocktail hour and the last to leave until he had danced with all the ladies.

Eventually, despite years of treatment and valiantly fighting the cancer he was diagnosed with in 2005, the cancer metastasized. John was kind, loving, resilient and strong until his last breath. As his brother Ed remarked, Jarcy was a prince of a man. He will be sorely missed by his family and all the lives he touched throughout his remarkable life.