Alice Ruth Baker, a cook for the city of Philadelphia, dies at 82.

Alice Ruth Baker, a cook for the city of Philadelphia, died on March 20, 2022. She was 82.

She was born on Jan. 28, 1940, the second of four children born to the late Herbert J. and Marie Pearson in Philadelphia.

Early in her life, she accepted the Lord as her personal savior. She became a faithful member of Ebenezer Baptist Church, where she was the treasurer of the matron’s guild. She also held the position of contributing editor for the Widows Newsletter for King David Lodge No. 52 and was a founding member (Queen Lady) of the Red Hat Society Flaming Flashing Foxes.

Baker was educated in the Philadelphia School System and graduated from Simon Gratz High School. She later attended John F. Kennedy Vocational Technical School, where she studied culinary arts.

She was employed by the City of Philadelphia at the Riverview Home for the aged and later left her position as a cook to take care of her aging parents.

Baker had a great love for entertaining, hosting tea parties and baking cookies during the holidays with the younger generations.

She had one daughter, Simone Brand. She later married James Baker, who preceded her in death. From that union, she became a stepmother to Denise Baker-Brown and France Baker-Brown.

“Baker was always traveling around the world, no place too far, nor place too near,” her family said in a tribute. “She said that ‘God made the world and I want to see it.’ Alice had one last request that she told the Hospice RN Lisa “that she wanted to take one last trip by herself” and that is what she did.”

She was preceded in death by her siblings, Edith Webb, Herbert Pearson and David Pearson; and a stepdaughter, Denise Baker-Brown.

She is survived by her daughter, Simone Brand; two grandchildren, Raa-Sd Thompkins (Tara) and Chad Brown; son-in-law, Timothy Brown; two great-grandchildren, Damien and Alijah Thompkins; sister-in-law, Loretta Webb; special friend, George Wayne Myers; and other family members and friends.

Services will be held on Saturday, May 21, at Ebenezer Baptist Church, 2259 North 10th St.

Services start at 10 a.m.

Interment is at Ivy Hill Cemetery, 1201 Easton Road.

Ervina White Beauford Funeral Services handled the arrangements.