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Karl Baker –
On the afternoon of September 15, 1941 I came into this world kicking and
screaming and I haven’t stopped since.
My family lived in Pacific Palisades when it was time for
me to enter kindergarten. So, in September of 1946 I embarked on a 10 year
experience which was to radically influence my life to this very day. I
became a student at Berkeley Hall School in Beverly Hills. The quality off
the education was outstanding the social isolation was not so pleasant.
In the fall of 1956 I enrolled in Santa Monica High School. WOW! What a
culture shock! I survived that experience, only coming into my own my senior
year. Two activities – band and swim team manager – brought me into my
own. I was a "B" student only because I could get "B’s"
without even opening a book – a situation that endured through college,
largely due to the superior fundamental education I received at BHS.
During my high school says I had my first "hands on" political
experiences as I became a page in the California State Legislature on three
different occasions. I very much remember a sign I say in Speaker Willie
Brown’s office that said, "People who have a respect for law or
sausage should watch neither being made."
From Santa Monica High School I went on to Santa Monica City College only
because it was cheap and convenient. One on my better high school teachers
referred to SMCC as a "high school with ash trays" or "Pico
Tech." After two years at SMCC and still totally aimless I enrolled at
San Fernando Valley State College – once again because it was cheap and
somewhat convenient. I lasted one semester at SFVSC and my only lasting
memory was of a logic class where, on the first day, the professor announced
that he liked to smoke and, therefore, anyone else who wanted to smoke could
smoke during class lectures – providing we brought our own ash trays. Once
again being lost in a huge school, I dropped out and worked for the US
Postal Service. (I delivered mail to Ronald Reagan.) It was during this time
that I became the organist for a Christian Church in West Los Angeles and
went to a choir concert by the Chapman College Choir. I was so impressed
that I made up my mind to apply there and enrolled in September of 1962
majoring in Political science with music as a minor. In those days Chapman
College was a small Christian college for small Christians – weekly chapel
and required Old and New Testament literature classes (6 units).
Fortunately, the Bible literature classes were quite liberal and thus I was
immersed into a world separate and apart from my Christian Science
upbringing.
I toyed with going onto law school, but Viet Nam was looming and I was
dating a "fine Christian" young lady who needed one more year of
College to get her elementary teaching credential. We marred (that’s what
you were supposed to do within a year of graduating from college – you
certainly couldn’t ‘shack up’), I entered the working world and even
though I came quite close – did not go to Viet Nam. During these early
working years we moved to Silverado Canyon (Orange County) California. I was
the organist at the Silverado Community Church, a member of the volunteer
fire department and a very active member of the local community – it was a
little like being in Kansas, I suppose.
As organist and choir director, I became acquainted with a man who was to
soon totally change the direction of my life. This man worked in the
purchasing department of Collins Radio Company in Newport Beach. Soon, I was
working there and remained for 8 years buying everything from capacitors to
connectors and spending well over a million dollars of their money annually.
While there, I was elected president of the Collins Western Credit Union.
During these years, I was wined and dined by salesmen who had large expense
accounts for lunches, dinners and lots and lots of Vodka.
I left Collins Radio to work for a small manufacturer of electronic
components, Micrometals, Inc., as their only salesperson. The company was
doing about $500,000 annually and 18 years later when I left the company it
was doing well over $10 million annually – and, I was still the only
salesman. The last few years I was with that company I was traveling to Asia
(Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Thailand and India) twice a
year, to Europe once every year or so and throughout the US in between
times.
I was promoted to Vice-president and in addition to my sales
responsibilities I negotiated all of the company insurance policies –
workers’ comp, liability and theft, etc..
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on image for fabulous size
Shortly after entering the employ of Micrometals, Inc., I got a DUI –
my second in 6 months. Via a "nudge from the judge" I began
attending AA meetings and that has stuck with me until today. This past
January I celebrated 34 years of continuous sobriety. It was also during
those years of sobriety that I had to come face to face with my sexual
orientation – I am gay.
I went through a divorce during these times and ultimately experienced
some very difficult times.
By this time – the mid 1980s - I was bi-residential with a house in
Orange County and another in Palm Springs. I sold my Orange County house and
bought a gay bar in the Palm Springs area. That turned out to be a financial
disaster but quite a learning experience. I became very well acquainted with
all of the problems a small businessman faces dealing with city and County
governments. The early ninety’s were a time of financial recession and the
first "Gulf War" which had a disastrous effect on the business. I
was forced into bankruptcy and, once again, was faced with – "what am
I going to do when I grow up." By this time I was over 50.
 I started teaching as a substitute in the local schools and found that I
was in demand being called virtually every day. I when back to school and
eventually got my teaching credential. I found that I had a passion for the
"socially and academically challenged" students. I took a short
respite from teaching as I was recruited back into the electronics industry.
But, alas, teaching was now in my blood so I got a job with the State
Department of Corrections teaching basic education at the maximum security
State Prison in Calipatria, CA. I literally taught murderers to read and
write. I went on to get a Masters in Education (Administration) thinking
that I would go into prison education administration only to get a
"lay-off" notice from the State during the budget cut-backs.
Now, for the last years or so, I am dabbling in real estate, quite active
in local politics and government and essentially semi-retired.
My two sons are both married now and very much love their "gay"
daddy – always sharing the most recent gay jokes. My older son works for
CalTrans in Sacramento and my younger son for Disney in Orlando, FL.
Both parents have passed but the family still holds property in the
Olympic/Barrington area of West Los Angeles – a nice retirement adjunct.
My brother was tragically killed in a wrong way freeway accident on the I-5
in Santa Ana when he was in the Marine Corps in 1969. My sister, Beverly,
lives in Tucson, AZ and my younger sister, Mary Ann, lives in west Marin
County where she designs lamps and home accessories for WalMart and Home
Depot.
Except for a short period of time, I have not been in a significant
relationship since my divorce. They say "there’s a lid for every jar
– I just haven’t found my lid yet."
 
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"There's no time like today to watch Desert Hot
Springs flourish! Vote me into city council so we can get things
done, on time. If we don't do it now, we might just go koo-koo." |
"An
honest man is always in trouble, but it's important for society to hear the
truth."
Larry
Elder, author of The Ten Things You Can't Say in America
Karl Baker, Jr. , M. A.
PO Box 327
Desert Hot Springs, CA 92240
760-251-4127
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