Margie Ruth Duke Baker

A gathering to celebrate the beautiful life of Margie Ruth Duke Baker will be Thursday March 13, 2025 with a visitation from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m with a Devotional Blessing at 7:30 p.m. at Williamson Memorial Funeral Home 3009 Columbia Ave. Franklin, TN. A burial procession will be Friday March 14 at 9:30 a.m. beginning at Williamson Memorial Funeral Home to Middle Tennessee Veterans Cemetery 7931 McCory Lane Nashville, TN. with a graveside service at 11 a.m. There will be an appetizer reception immediately following at Harpeth Hills Pavilion 9090 TN-100 Nashville, TN with a time for sharing memories, stories and the impact Margie had on the lives of friends and family. 

Margie Duke Baker, 90, of Jackson, Mississippi and formerly of Nolensville, TN. passed peacefully from this life into the presence of Christ surrounded by her loving family at St Dominic’s Hospital in Jackson, MS. on February 6, 2025.

Margie was born on her grandfather’s farm in Hardin County, Tennessee January 31, 1935. She was the fifth of six children born to Benjamin Duke and Nona Beryleen Alexander Duke. Her parents were sharecroppers and even though it was the middle of the depression and the times were lean, the Duke family thrived. Margie graduated from Wardell High School in Wardell, Missouri in 1952. This is where she met the love of her life, George Baker. He was the handsome basketball star and she was the pretty cheerleader. 

Margie and George married on Christmas Day 1953. George was in the Army, so they said goodbye to civilian life and embarked on a long military journey that led them all over the world. They lived in Alaska when it wasn’t even a state. During these years, their first daughter Laura was born in 1956, followed by Kristie in 1961 and Duke in 1964. In 1968, the family moved to Germany where my father in law was in the Medical Service Corp as a Hospital Administrator. He was the MASH Commander. Margie was the quintessential commanding officer's wife hosting lovely parties. She rallied the spouses when their husbands or wives were deployed to Jordan in the late 1960’s. She kept them busy and helped them cope with the stress of possibly losing their spouses. There were many good times on the base. One fond memory was when she planned a family Easter egg hunt at Heidelberg Castle and all of the curious German children joined the hunt. The family moved around Germany over the next four years living in the ‘Bergs’ Aschaffenburg, Wurzburg and Heidelberg. They traveled all over Europe in a Volvo Station Wagon…camping in tents and meeting the locals. Every trip they made, Margie found a treasure and the children would be stuffed, folded and bent into the back of the wagon to make room for a world globe shaped liquor cabinet…back then Margie was very against alcohol, but she had to have it. The tea toefl was purchased in Amsterdam and strategically placed in the Volvo where Laura rode back to Germany with barely enough room to breathe. The memories of living in Germany were the best of times for each of them. 

But my mother in law was so much more. She was a mom and she was Nana. She was a wonderful mother to her three children. She had two sisters that she adored and loved more than anything. The sisters were thick! She loved her cousins and the history of her family. She loved quilting and in the last months of her life she was still repairing quilts for friends. She could look at a quilt and tell you what the pattern was and pick over the details of each stitching. She loved Birds and Blooms magazine and she loved watching the hummingbirds at her feeder. She hated the Bald Cypress tree in her backyard that dropped thousands of cypress balls all over the place. She would not tolerate one leaf or cypress ball on her back patio. She loved cheese and apples for lunch. Nana wasted absolutely nothing and I mean nothing. Everything from lettuce, a straw or a piece of string could have a second, third or fifth life. She made the best cornbread you ever put in your mouth. Even if I stood beside her and followed each step, it would never taste as good as hers. She made the best cranberry ambrosia each Thanksgiving. That was her favorite holiday. She would travel up to Nashville to Baker’s Acres and spend it with Laura, the Cannon Crewe, Kristie and all the grands and great grands. She created the coolest gift…Nana Bucks. She would give her grands and great grands money and they were to donate it to a cause or charity that they thought was important. Each one was to come back and tell her where and how the money was used. It was something each of them looked forward to every year. She was the best and there is no way her incredible life and influence can be summed up right here. This is but a glimpse of her love and legacy. 

Margie was preceded in death by her husband George who passed away in 2010 from ALS after 56 years of marriage. In addition to her parents, she was predeceased by brothers, Frank Duke and Dr. Don Duke, two sisters Ina Joyce Duke and Yvonne Hershman.

She is survived by her three children and their spouses Laura (David) Cannon of Nolensville, TN. Kristie (James Pickering) Baker of Milton, FL. and Duke (Karen) Baker of Jackson, MS. A bonus daughter, Shari Watkins of Franklin, TN. Margie is survived by her sister and spouse, Betty (John) Swift of Pflugerville, TX. She is also survived by her sister in law, Marilyn Duke of Memphis, TN. Nana is survived by her seven grandchildren, Kari (James) Vernon of Glen Allen, VA., Brian Cannon of Spring Hill, TN., Jesse Cannon of Nolensville, TN., Caitlin Cannon of Berkley, CA., Lorianna (Conor) Eby of Austin, TX., Becca (Conlan) McGuff of Alabaster, AL., Dees (Kristina) Baker of Jackson, MS. Now for the twelve great grandchildren that she was so crazy about, Hannah Vernon of Norfolk, VA., Caleb Vernon of Morgantown W VA., Kastle Vernon and Cannon Vernon of Glen Allen, VA, David Cannon, Jonathan Cannon, Grace Cannon, Zeke Cannon of Springhill, TN., Dalton Cannon, Wyatt Cannon and Arlen Cannon of Concord, CA. And last but not least Alexander Baker of Jackson, MS. was born three weeks early and three days before his Nana passed away. She was able to see a picture of him.

The family requests that donations be given to The ALS Association at ALS.org. Margie loved trees and flowers. Plant one and think of her as you watch it grow. She would love that. 

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” Jeremiah 29:11