By Linda Miller
I notice people with hearts to serve others are often drawn together. A mutual desire to reach out with love and practical deeds can create special bonds between the givers. This is true of Ernest and June Baker. It is how they met.
In 1999, June returned from missionary work in Columbia to serve as interim director of a prayer house in Tucson, Arizona, eventually pioneering a food ministry for the homeless and poor in the park. As chief cook, she needed someone to deliver food. She perused the board member list. Ernest Baker’s name stood out. She wondered, “Could he come and distribute food in the park?” It was a match. Soon their relationship blossomed beyond serving together. They married six months later on Thanksgiving Day, surrounded by friends they served in the park.
Ernest and June’s hearts of compassion led to pastoring “Church on the Street,” launching a TV program, and Ernest’s work with fatherless young men, through his ministry, Absalom, O, Absalom. They were proud parents of four children. June, also a teacher, homeschooled for ten years, while Ernest taught on an Indian Reservation. Ernest coached basketball, taught Middle School and High School, and loved his students.
“Ernest was sociable—a friend to everyone. He talked to people in Walmart and prayed with them. Stories about his Air Force service in Vietnam often got our family laughing–he was quite a storyteller” says June.
The years 2020 and 2021 brought changes to the family. June pursued her Master of Divinity at Oral Roberts University while Ernest traveled from their home in Arizona visiting frequently until his move to Tulsa in 2021. June says, “He loved our church here and was on fire for Jesus.”
In early November of 2021 Ernest complained of persistent head and neck pain. Family members urged him to be checked by his doctor. It took a call from his brother in New York to finally make it happen. The ambulance transported him to a large Tulsa hospital. June arrived later in the afternoon.
While Ernest tested for COVID-19, June prayed for patients and families and “preached to the people.” Ernest spent ten days in the hospital. June didn’t leave his side. She says, “I prayed and encouraged Ernest. I read Psalm 56. We talked about many things.”
On the day of Ernest’s transition to heaven, each of his seven surviving siblings spoke to him on the phone: prayed for him and spoke words of endearment. June recalls, “Our children were all there and a friend was there to support me. We sang and praised God. It was beautiful. We were all crying. He died on November 26th, a day after our twenty-second wedding anniversary.”
Ernest’s gravesite military funeral at Fort Gibson was a profound experience showing God’s love. As June says “Ernest loved students.” God allowed a group of twenty high school students to come to the cemetery to witness his military burial. It was their school project. Ernest would have loved having them there. The officiating minister saw the students, went against the norm, and spent time ministering to the teens. She took advantage of their being there to tell them about Jesus.
Ernest would have said, “‘Okay, you’re here; you are my audience.’ The minister did exactly what Ernest would have done. God has a plan. I could not have put that together. God is perfect in all His ways.”
“I comfort myself. Ernest is happy. He wants me to go on when I feel sad,” says June. Their family laughs a lot over things Ernest did. Today, June smiles and laughs as she talks about their son’s prom. “Mom, does dad have any ties? Does he have any dress shoes?” he asks. A few minutes later their son stands before her wearing his father’s size 13 dress shoes.
With God’s grace, June completed her Master of Divinity and was selected as graduation speaker to Veterans and their dependents in Christ Chapel. June says, God gave her the theme, Transparency Sets You Free. Many people came to her afterward to tell her how much her talk meant to them.
June hoped she and Ernest would travel together doing missionary work. She still sees herself going and is currently scheduled to be in Costa Rica in June, and Sierra Leon in November. With her own future and others in mind, June encourages women to know their life is not over if something happens to their husband.
Her advice is, “Don’t die! Don’t go into depression. Instead, go forward and fulfill your God-given purpose.”
