Donald Craig Baker died at home in Friday Harbor, Washington, on the island of San Juan, on Sunday, April 14, 2019.

Donald Baker was born on Dec. 12, 1928, son of Cloyd and Evelyn Baker, in Jonesboro, Arkansas. He married Elizabeth Disney of Norman, Oklahoma, and together they had six children.

Donald Baker graduated from the University of Arkansas and pursued a doctorate in English Literature at the University of Oklahoma. He taught at a number of universities before receiving tenure at the University of Colorado in Boulder, Colorado, where he taught English Literature for the next twenty years. He was awarded the title of Professor Emeritus at the University of Colorado before retiring in the 1970s.

Early on, he discovered with Elizabeth a love for travel and pursued teaching opportunities in Finland and England, during his tenure in Colorado; as well as living in Ireland for several years. After his retirement, he went on to teach in China, Macau and Tunisia, during which time he and Elizabeth traveled widely in every country they visited.

His children fondly remember the summers when Donald and Elizabeth would pack everything into their Volkswagen camper van and both parents and children would set out to travel the length and breadth of Europe and the United States.

He is survived by his wife, Elizabeth and all his children — Craig, Geoffrey, Alison, Keith, Leslie, and Nicholas, as well as grandchildren.

A graveside service was held by St. Francis Catholic Church in Friday Harbor, on April 18, 2019.

Arrangements made by the Evans Funeral Home of Anacortes.