'Unbeatable' Service
Photo by Carl Socolow '77.
Campus gathers to thank Marie Baker for 61 years at Dickinson
by MaryAlice Bitts-Jackson
How do you say “thank you” to a campus legend? For friends and colleagues of Executive Secretary Marie Baker, who retired last week after 61 years of service to Dickinson, a small, low-key gathering just would not do.
A teenager when she came to Dickinson to join the college’s typing pool, Baker served as secretary, and then executive secretary to the alumni office, dean of women, admissions, dean of students and dean of the college, before moving into her current position as office manager for the provost and dean. In 2005, Dickinson commemorated her five decades of service with a plaque and bench in her honor—it will soon be updated to reflect her additional 11 years at the college—and the Wheel and Chain women’s leadership society made her an honorary member the following year. Her retirement was announced to the greater campus community during the winter break.
On Baker's last day of employment, the Benjamin Rush statue, which she passed each day on her way to and from Old West, had been outfitted with a headscarf, her trademark accessory. That afternoon, all were invited to share memories of her time on campus during an afternoon reception in the HUB.
President Nancy A. Roseman presented Baker with an certificate of thanks, courtesy of the Board of Trustees, and several faculty members and administrators thanked Baker publicly for her advice, support and peerless efficiency.
George Allen, a retired dean of the college who supervised Baker for nearly 20 years, was first in line. “You give her a task, and you know it will get done, and done well,” Allen said, noting that Baker’s winning combination of flexibility, adaptability, interpersonal facility and efficiency were the keys to her success.
Baker's most recent boss, Provost and Dean Neil Weissman, agreed. “Marie said in a 2008 interview, ‘I’m not a legend,’ but hoped to be remembered ‘as someone who made a difference.’ She has achieved both,” said Weissman, who presented Baker with a “tenure box” of cards and letters from well-wishers and a watch engraved with the inscription “61—unbeatable.” “Her service here is the stuff of legend, and she has certainly made a difference. Dickinson is much the better for her presence.”
Asked to address the audience, Baker was, characteristically, to the point.
“I’ve said before that I don’t like pomp and circumstance, but I certainly appreciate all of you coming out today,” she told the crowd of approximately 120 administrators, faculty and staff. “And I take a lot of pleasure in knowing that you’ve affected my life and I’ve affected yours.”
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Published January 18, 2016