Miriam L. Baker, Age 71, Was Teacher and Artist

Miriam (Mimi) L. Baker, youngest daughter of Edith L. Smith and F. W. Loomis, died in her 72nd year at home in Paris, France on April 10, 2004.

From the first year of her life, Mimi was a summer resident of the Vineyard. Her love for the Vineyard had historical roots. Her parents spent their honeymoon in Menemsha in 1922, where friendly fishermen left donations of small lobsters on the porch. Mimi's parents continued to come to the Vineyard every year for most of their lives with Mimi and her two sisters.

Mimi was an honors student at Radcliffe, majoring in physics. She worked at the Cloud Physics Laboratory at the University of Chicago and later taught math and physics at secondary schools in France before becoming an artist. She studied painting at the Atelier Nicolas Poussin and with other talented art teachers in France. Her work includes oils, gouaches and watercolors of Vineyard subjects, as well as portraits and still lifes painted in France.

She was an avid reader and an enthusiastic supporter and occasional volunteer at the Chilmark Library.

She is survived by her husband Wallace; her children Ann, Christopher, Charles and Jonathan; her six grandchildren of various nationalities, U.S., French, Czech and Chinese, and her sister, Margaret Weaver.