Rita Baker, Lifelong Educator, Dies at 64. Rita, a lifelong educator, known for her dry wit and compassion, died on Wednesday in King, where she lived. She was 64. Mrs. Baker was born Rita Lee Glenewinkel on October 4, 1946, in Seguin, TX. Her mother, Mary Rose Franks Glenewinkel, was a secretary for the public school administrator; her father, Woodrow Lee Glenewinkel, a lifelong farmer, was a construction foreman by trade.
Rita did not always plan to be a teacher, in fact in high school she wanted to be a Mathematician for NASA, but it was her mother’s wish to have her daughters become educators. Rita met her future husband while attending Southwest Texas State Junior College in Uvalde, TX. She went on to receive her Bachelor’s Degree from Texas State University (formerly Southwest Texas State College) in 1969. Rita’s 34 years of teaching touched the lives of many across the world. She taught at several schools in North Carolina and Texas over the years. Rita also spent numerous summers at Yale University with the EF Foundation helping teach foreign exchange students coming into the U.S. how to adjust to life in the States. Rita is remembered by her dedicated husband, Terry of King, and loving daughter, Heather Baker of Charlotte. She is also remembered by her sisters Sally Jeung of San Mateo, CA and Judy Boehnke of Kingsbury, TX, mother-in-law Sarah Baker of Uvalde, TX and sister-in-law Jane Roper of Victoria, TX. The family will celebrate Rita’s life with a memorial service at Trinity United Methodist Church in King, NC, Sunday, February 13th at 3 pm. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorials be made to either Trinity United Methodist Church or the Hospice & Palliative Carecenter of Stokes County. Cox-Needham Funeral Home of Pilot Mountain (www.coxneedham.com, www.coxneedham/facebook.com) is respectfully serving the Baker family.