Roll Call Tribute

Roy V. Baker Jr.

October 9, 1938 - March 16, 2022

he family of Roy Baker will celebrate his life of 83 years at 10:00 AM on Thursday, March 24, 2022, at the Lake Ridge Chapel and Memorial Designers. His family will host a time of fellowship and remembrance from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM Wednesday, March 23, 2022, at Lake Ridge Chapel and Memorial Designers.

On Wednesday, March 16, 2022, Roy V. Baker Jr, loving husband, and father, passed away in Lubbock, TX at his home, after a prolonged battle with cancer. Roy was born on October 9, 1938, in Littlefield, TX to Verble and Brena (Cook) Baker. Roy attended public schools in Amherst, TX, Artesia, NM, and Pecos, TX. He graduated from Pecos High School in 1957. After graduation from Texas A&M University in 1961, he received a fellowship from the National Cotton Council to pursue an advanced degree at Clemson University. After graduation from Clemson University in 1962, he accepted a job at the USDA Ginning Laboratory in Las Cruces, NM. His research during this period (1962 – 1967) dealt with the processing of upland and pima cottons grown in the US Southwest and with air pollution control problems at cotton gins.

In 1967 Roy was selected to manage the final construction and opening of a new ginning research laboratory in Lubbock, TX. He moved to Lubbock in 1968 and the new facility was officially opened in 1969 with a large open house event. Roy continued to lead a research program at this location until his retirement in 2001. This program involved developing improved processes for harvesting and ginning the stripper-type cotton varieties produced in eastern New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma.

In 1970 Roy and Pamela Sue Roden were married in Lubbock. In 1973 they became the proud parents of a beautiful little daughter named Jennifer Michelle. Pam was a Dental Hygienist in Lubbock for many years and a graduate of the University of Texas. This Aggie–Longhorn relationship led to some interesting and sometimes heated conversations during A&M – Texas football games. Tragically, Pam became very ill in late 1989 and passed away in Lubbock on March 18, 1990.

Roy and Shirley Ann Mezack Bruening were married on July 2, 1993, in Lubbock. Shirley was a teacher for LISD for several years. She and Roy both retired from their jobs in 2001 and continued to reside in Lubbock. Shirley died the day following Roy on March 17, 2022.

Roy is survived by his sister, Toressa Kilgore and husband Ronald of Knoxville, TN; daughter, Jennifer Lachnicht and husband Kenneth of Dallas, GA; granddaughter Brenner Lachnicht of Dallas, GA; stepdaughter Rhonda Shields of Lubbock; stepson Ronald Bruening and wife Page of Williams, AZ; and a number of cousins, nieces, and nephews.

Roy was an avid NASCAR fan. Some of his fondest memories were of attending races and camping out at Atlanta and Talladega speedways with his daughter and son-in-law. Roy was a life-long woodworker. During his early marriage years, his projects dealt mostly with building furniture for their new home. In later years he concentrated mainly on various woodturning projects. Roy also had a keen interest in hunting, target shooting, gardening, and genealogy research.