page_title: Virginia S. Baker
section_title: Legacy
hierarchical_section_title: Virginia S. Baker / Legacy
caption_attribution_description: English: Virginia S. Baker Recreation Center in Patterson Park, Baltimore, Maryland.
context_page_description: Virginia S. Baker was an American civil servant and employee of the Department of Recreation and Parks in Baltimore City, Maryland, U.S. She was known by a number of nicknames, such as Queenie, Queen of Fun, Baltimore's First Lady of Fun, "queen of the hill", and "Baltimore's oldest kid". In 1984, the recreation center in Patterson Park was named the Virginia S. Baker Recreation Center to honor Baker's years of service to the center and to the children of Baltimore.
  Baker started her career as a volunteer playground monitor at the old Patterson Park recreation center and was hired to work for the Department of Recreation and Parks right after graduating from Eastern High School in 1939. She held a variety of job titles in her 53 years of civil service. She was best known for the many events and programs she initiated as director of the "Adventures in Fun" office, an office in City Hall created specifically for Baker by former Baltimore Mayor William Donald Schaefer.
  In an address to the Senate, U.S. Senator from Maryland and Baltimore-native Barbara Mikulski made a special tribute to Baker following her death in 1998. Baker died at age 76 due to complications from pneumonia.
context_section_description: In 1984, the Patterson Park recreation center was named the Virginia S. Baker Recreation Center in recognition of her many years of service to the city's youth. Writer Rafael Alvarez said Baker "deliver[ed] entertainment and exercise to three generations of Baltimoreans" and is "perhaps the only civil servant in America in charge of an office called Adventures in Fun".
  When Baker died in 1998, U.S. Senator from Maryland and Baltimore-native Barbara Mikulski paid special tribute to her in an address to the Senate that was printed in the Congressional record. In her address, Mikulski said, 
  Virginia S. Baker was special to me, my family and the entire city of Baltimore. Virginia Baker started as a volunteer playground monitor in Baltimore, where she brought joy and fun to the city's streets and neighborhoods. But more importantly, she always kept an eagle eye out for the children with a broken heart or the ones from a broken home. Without notice she would find a way to bring those children into her circle of compassion, to let them know they always had a home at her recreation center. She had the special gift of mending children's hearts.
caption: The Virginia S. Baker Recreation Center in Patterson Park, May 2019.
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