In Memoriam: Jacquelyn Mize-Baker
Jacquelyn Mize-Baker
On Monday night, Oct. 16, 2023, Jacquelyn Mize-Baker joined the blessed communion at God’s heavenly banquet table. She died not long after her husband, Karl, concluded his 170th daily visit to her – as he has done every day since her stroke and hospitalization – with a kiss and the words “I love you.”
Jackie and Karl met June 20, 1986 at Trivia Night at Trinity Lutheran Church, Long Island City. Coming into the building through entrances opposite one another, they ended up seated at the same table. Their team, formed with a now long-time friend, aced their question. The category? Star Trek. They were married less than a year later–May 30, 1987–after she essentially proposed to him: “don’t take this the wrong way, but I feel already like we are married. Why don’t we?”
The spirit of Jackie’s proposal – as playful as it is truthful, as light-hearted as serious – is something all who came to know her appreciated greatly -- what the scriptures call “joy.” A persistence of living in God’s light and grace, always. Even in challenging times.
Jackie employed this spirit in her work resettling refugees. She cared deeply for each person and was determined to accompany them every step of the way. She began this work with Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services, which until the 1980s was headquartered in New York City. When LIRS relocated to Baltimore, Jackie worked for the International Rescue Committee. She served as a member of Seafarers International House's Sojourner and Immigrant Mission Committee (2009-2023) and as a member of the organization's Board of Directors (2013-2018). She traveled extensively with each organizations and developed a world-wide network of colleagues and friends. In fact, at the time of her stroke she was preparing for a long-anticipated trip to Switzerland to visit friends.
It was service to the church that most motivated Jackie. The daughter of Donald and Mildred Joyce Mize, she was born in Topeka, Kansas, before her family moved to Hilsboro, Kansas. From there she earned a B.A. in Nebraska followed by enrollment at Concordia Seminary in Saint Louis, Missouri. The determination to serve the church is self-evident: a woman among a sea of men preparing for ordination in the Lutheran Church––Missouri Synod to this day does not support. With the breakup of that school and the creation of Christ Seminary-Seminex, Jackie did not complete the degree. Eventually, however, she returned to The Lutheran School of Theology at Philadelphia where she completed a M.Div. degree. She became a Deacon in the church 25 years ago (then called Associate in Ministry), after completing an internship at Saint Peter’s. Indeed it was her time at Saint Peter’s – her long association with Seminary classmate, The Rev. Amandus Derr, who was at the time Senior Pastor – that inspired her transfer of membership from Trinity to Saint Peter’s.
Jackie’s participation in the life of this community remains unparalleled. She served on a number of committees, the Parish Council and was a regular liturgical assistant. She also preached one of the very first sermons we ever live-streamed, which remains one of our most-viewed. If you want to hear Jackie speak about her own faith – or, better, speak about singing her faith even unto that time when we “greet the rising sun with joy” – take a moment to listen to her remarkable sermon for the Feast of the Presentation of our Lord, February 6, 2011.
Jackie is survived by her husband, Karl, her brother, Frank, and his family, including three nieces.