Wayne Kline Baker

Wayne Kline Baker, 92, died on August 5, 2026. He was born on May 4,1934, in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, to Edgar and Helen Kline Baker, and spent his childhood in Benton, Pennsylvania.

Wayne served on active duty in the United States Army in Korea from 1954 to 1956. He graduated from Bucknell University in 1958 and pursued graduate studies in accounting at Pennsylvania State University from 1958 to 1959.

From 1959 to 1964, Wayne was a partner with his father in Baker and Baker Hardware Store in Benton. In 1964, he began his career in federal civil service at Olmsted Air Force Base in Middletown, Pennsylvania, where he met his future wife, Mary Moore. Following the closure of Olmsted, Wayne and Mary moved to the Washington, D.C., area. He worked as a budget analyst for the U.S. Navy, the Peace Corps, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development before retiring in 1991.

Wayne and Mary made their longtime home in Arlington, Virginia, where they raised their three daughters. After retirement, they also lived in North Carolina and Florida before moving in 2022 to a retirement community in Pennsylvania and in 2026 to Fairfax, Virginia, for assisted living care.

Wayne had a lifelong love of travel and adventure. As a child on road trips with his family, he refused to nap for fear of missing something interesting outside the window. In his retirement, Wayne cruised his own trawlers along the Intracoastal Waterway from the Chesapeake Bay to Miami and through Florida to the Gulf Coast. (Shortly before his death, Wayne smiled and said that Mary was “a good sport” about his boating ambitions.) He visited all 50 states and more than 50 countries. Wayne also enjoyed gardening, playing tennis, and reading, but his greatest pleasure was spending time with his family.

Wayne was preceded in death by his parents and his brother, Glen Baker. He is survived by Mary, his wife of 60 years; his three daughters, Lisa Baker of Bozeman, Montana; Ellen McManus and her husband, Russell, of Chicago, Illinois; and Maria Meldrum and her husband, William, of Vienna, Virginia; seven grandchildren; and several cousins, nieces, and nephews.

In accordance with Wayne’s wishes, he will be cremated. His remains will be interred in a private family ceremony at Wesley Chapel Cemetery near Benton, Pennsylvania, where generations of his family are buried, including his brother, parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents.