On June 1, 1941, she married her former classmate, Barnabas William ("Billy") Baker, of an established Portsmouth family and who could trace his ancestry to the colonial era.
[3] After graduation, she worked as a stenographer and bookkeeper, and lived at home with her parents, brother Raymond (who had become a shipfitter apprentice), and sister Gertrude.
Fellow Episcopalian and lawyer Donald Sandie Jr. succeeded her beginning in January 1960, following an election when Baker only won 7% of the votes cast.
[13][14] During her second term Baker worked with the three other women in the state legislature, Mary A. R. Marshall of Arlington, Marion Galland of Alexandria and Dorothy McDiarmid of Fairfax.
[15] She gained favorable publicity for her unsuccessful attempt to have the new "car tax" reduced for people who traded in older vehicles,[16] and for calling for a study to permit unemployment benefits for state and local employees not currently covered.