COY pays it forward

40 carrie

Baker

citizen of the year

Story & Photos by Amber Revels-Stocks

Farmville Citizen of the Year Carrie Baker is known around

town as the founder of the Lost Sheep Resource Foundation and one of the people fighting to preserve the former H.B. Sugg High School building. She has lived in Farmville since 1971, but she has always loved the town. “I never lived in Farmville growing up. I was between here and Fountain. I went to Fountain for elementary school, and then in ninth grade, we went to H.B. Sugg for high school,” Baker said. “I love Farmville. It was all we knew. Everything we needed, we came to Farmville. They had everything. We bought our groceries here, we shopped, went to the doctors office. It was all Farmville, Farmville, Farmville. I always wanted to live in town. I never did until I got married in 1971.” Baker was a member of one of the last classes to graduate from H.B. Sugg High School. In fact, her class thought they would be the very last. “We were the year before the last year at H.B. Sugg. We helped prepare for (integration),” she said. “We thought we were the last class, but they got behind on the construction and stuff. We were preparing to be the last class.” Her class graduated in 1970, and the school moved its

Farmville Magazine 2019

high school classes to the new Farmville Central High School for the 1971-72 school

year. “It was our class that helped name the mascot and colors for Farmville Central,” Baker said. “They got five from Farmville High School, the Red Devils, and they came together with five from over here (at Sugg). They got together and named everything, decided colors, all of that.” The atmosphere was filled with excitement at the time for Baker.

“We was excited that we were the last

class, that we made it in there, and that we were part of the change over,” she said. “I had never gone to school where white people went until I went to college.” She remembered feeling disappointed when it was announced that the Class of 1971

would be the last graduating class at H.B. Sugg High School. “The whole time, we thought we were going to be the last. It was right at the end of the school year we learned they were going to have to go one more year. Then we were a little bit disappointed,” Baker said. “Now after the high school left, they still had the elementary school there for a number of years before they moved to a different building. They still call it H.B. Sugg, which I think is nice.” After graduating in 1970, Baker went to Pitt County Technical School, now Pitt Community College. She studied secretarial science for two years. “Then I decided, ‘I do not want to do this,’” Baker said. “So I went and worked at a manufacturing job for 15 years. I made it all the way up to assistant plant manager.” But eventually, Baker felt the pull to do something else. “I wanted to be around people, and I always liked to be hands on, so I went back to school and got my beautician’s degree. I’m retired now, but on the Thursday of every week, I do the elders,” she said. Baker styles hair for seven older women who have been her clients since before she

retired, and she loves every second of it. "It feels wonderful (to do their hair). … I love doing their hair. They never complain, and we just sit there and talk. We have church with each other. I’ll cut the computer on and play gospel music. Sometimes, we’ll put on a good Christian, gospel movie. They just enjoy it,” Baker said. “The best part is to see them when I finish with it. I hardly do anything, but I’ll give them the mirror and they’ll shake their hair and talk about how much they love it. They seem like new women sometime.” She has vowed to continue to style their hair until they have all passed on. Baker has even had the opportunity to fix some of her client’s hair after they have died.

“She was about 94, and she passed about four or five days after the picture was taken (for the black history celebration),” Baker said. “The funeral home called me to come do her hair

because she’d asked for me to do it. They wanted me to place the hat on her like she would wear to church.

“It’s a good relationship between your clients and yourself because you’ve

Farmville Magazine 2019 I love doing their hair. They never complain, and we just sit there and talk. We have church “ with each other. I’ll cut the computer on and play gospel music. Sometimes, we’ll put on a good Christian, gospel movie. They just enjoy it.

-Carrie Baker

Carrie Baker holds a prized picture of her with an “elder client.” The client died about four days after the picture was taken and had asked for Baker to style her hair for her funeral.

41

been with her for a long time,” she continued. “When you find a beautician you like, you want that person to do your hair all the time. You don’t want anyone else touching your hair. It’s made me part of their family. Their kids know they can leave them here because they’ll be taken care of.” One of the best moments in her beautician

career was helping a client with Alzheimer’s. “I had been doing her hair for years. She had gotten to the point where she didn’t really recognize anybody,” Baker said. “Her daughter brought her here, and she got halfway down the sidewalk to my shop, which is back behind the house. She stopped, said ‘Carrie Baker,’ and took off running. “She recognized where she was going before she even saw me. … She went and sat

right back in my chair. She didn’t say nare word after that, but she knew where she was and

what she was here for. It really touched my heart.”

Baker has great stories about all of her clients, having worked as a beautician for more than 20 years before taking her semiretirement. But she stays busy. Her work with the Lost Sheep Resource Foundation and the H.B. Sugg Alumni Organization won her the prestigious Citizen of the Year award. “I couldn’t believe it. Even now when I

think about it, I wonder if they really knew what they were doing. I didn’t know anybody was looking,” Baker said. “When they actually stood up and named all the things I have done over the last few years, I almost didn’t realize who they were talking about. I think I started working even before I received my call to do the work.”

She is the first African-American woman to

win the award. Previously, it was the Farmville Man of the Year contest. After a while, two

awards were given out, one to an outstanding man and one to an outstanding woman. Then, the awards were combined into the Citizen of

the Year.

Baker did not know she was going to receive the award until her name was called at

the ceremony in April 2019. “I was shocked. My good friend, Judy Gidley, (the former chamber director), told me to come to the banquet,” Baker said. “I was surprised she kept the secret. She made me go with her because she goes to all of them. Judy told me if I went out, I could get the name of the Lost Sheep Foundation out there. … “When I realized, I started shrinking down in my seat and was like, ‘Help me, Jesus, because I don’t want to get up there and act like a fool.’ I know I said something, but I didn’t plan a speech, so I don’t know what I said.” Her son also knew she was receiving the award because he arrived with flowers for her.

“They must not have told the girls because they would’ve warned me and let me get prepared,” Baker said. For Baker, the Lost Sheep Resource Foundation is her purpose from God. Winning the award is just further proof. “I know it was Him,” she said. “When you don’t think anybody is watching, He is, and He’s making plans.”

Things To Do:

• Find a new copier • Replace old fax machine • Get a reliable printer CALL COECO!!! CALL COECO!!! CALL COECO!!! CALL COECO!!! CALL COECO!!! • Make 2007 a profitable year • Get a promotion We are your complete Office Solution Provider offering Digital Black and White Copiers, Color Digital Copiers, Network Printers, Fax Machines, Digital Duplicators, Wide Format Copiers/Printers, Computers and Networking, Digital Imaging and More...

COECO OFFICE SYSTEMS 205 E. Arlington Blvd. • Greenville, NC 252-321-2400 Account Manager: Claudie Smith Official Ricoh Partner Since 1981 www.coeco.com

42 An Active Corporate Citizen

For Over 30 Years

South Field Street • PO Drawer 809 252-753-5323

Farmville Magazine 2019

Farmville, We've Got It All! Embracing progress while holding on to Farmville, We've Got It All! Farmville, We've Got It All! small town values makes Farmville a great Embracing progress while holding on to Embracing progress while holding on to small town values makes Farmville a great place to live, work and grow small town values makes Farmville a great place to live, work and grow place to live, work and grow Visit us and experience a community with Visit us and experience a community with Visit us and experience a community with small town charm, full of culture & history. small town charm, full of culture & history. small town charm, full of culture & history. Farmville

We’ve got it all!

own Charm rECrEation

rsity & Pitt CommUnity CollEgE s loCatEd downtown bliC sChools offEring gh high sChool gradUation

East Carolina University & Pitt Community College campuses located downtown EASY ACCESS TO BOTH MEDICAL & INDUSTRIAL CENTERS IN GREENVILLE To learn more or to schedule a tour, call 252-753-6700 or email farmvillenc.gov dhodgkins@farmville nc.gov