Obituary

Ann Patricia (Annabelle) Baker, born 16 January 1955, parents Olga (Davis, Baker) Neal of Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Creighton Charles Baker of Yarmouth, N. S. and San Diego, Ca. Predeceased a short while before by her sister Jo Bird, she leaves to mourn their loss her husband Patrick S. Smith of Petersburg Alaska, her step-daughter Renee Mackie, her beloved grand children, Ava, Ruby and Cash, Basalt Co., her sisters, Libby Baker, Oakura, New Zealand, Sarah Horner, Ahaura, New Zealand and her much loved nieces and nephews in New Zealand and Australia.

Annabelle and Patrick made their home in Petersburg, Alaska on board their boat ‘Island Belle’ after meeting and marrying in Chicago where she was a Vice President with Continental Bank of Illinois.  She graduated from UCLA and earned her MBA from Dalhousie University, Halifax.

Artist, futures trader, athlete, triple marathoner, dive master, kayaker, fisherman and hunter, she was also an ardent community activist in Petersburg where she volunteered as a broadcaster on radio station KFSK and worked enthusiastically in the cause of Cancer Research fund-raising.

After completing her first battle in 2005, in order to escape her new self-image of a cancer patient, she solo circumnavigated Kupreanof Island in her kayak, a voyage of some 140 miles in just over one week. It worked and she was once again Annabelle Baker, athlete.

Annabelle passed away on October 14, 2012 after a courageous eight month battle with cancer in Houston Texas.

There will be a Celebration of Annabelle’s Life at Sons of Norway Hall on Friday, November 16, 2012 at 6:00 PM. Donations in Annabelle’s remembrance can be made to: Beat the Odds, C/O Petersburg Medical Center Foundation, Petersburg Alaska 99833.