- Date Of Birth: October 30, 1946
- Date Of Death: April 5, 2019
- State: Texas
Jane Baucum Baird died suddenly 5 April 2019 in Belton, Texas. She was born 30 October 1946 in Houston, Texas, the second of six children, to parents Archie Winford Baucum and Lynn Greusel Baucum.
She was 4 years old when the family moved from Texas to New York. She grew up in Pelham, a small town just north of New York City. She was a go-getter, good at everything she did. She loved sports (swimming, snow & water skiing, ice skating). She was a cheerleader at Pelham High School and was so devoted that she’d practice her jumps nightly at home in her room. Home practice was stopped when Daddy noticed the crack that had appeared in the ceiling of the room below hers.
In 1963, she was 17 and the family moved back to Houston. She graduated from Lamar High School. From there, she went on to the University of Texas in Austin, where she joined Zeta Tau Alpha sorority and graduated in 1968 with a degree in Elementary Education. She taught elementary school for several years in Houston at Spring Branch, where she was a wonderful and imaginative teacher.
She met Melvin Rex Baird and they married 21 July 1973 in Houston. Jane had a ready-made family with Rex and his son, 7-year-old Stephen Rex Baird. Four years later, son Andrew Baucum Baird born on Super Bowl Sunday. The only people not watching the game that day were all at the hospital waiting on Andrew.
In 1988, they moved to Las Vegas, where Andrew met and married his wife, Chrissy. Ten years later, Jane and Rex moved to Oregon to build a large regional camp for Young Life youth ministries. They were soon afterward transferred to Colorado Springs, Colorado to manage all camp construction in the U.S. They loved the West and took every opportunity to travel all over the Western U.S. and the Canadian Rockies.
They remained in Colorado until 2008, when they moved to Belton. They built a house there on the Baird family ranch, joining Rex’s three brothers and son Stephen, who also live there. Rex was a rancher at heart, since he grew up there. It took a little adjustment for Jane, but she quickly grew to love it also. For a city girl, she got pretty good at dispatching assorted unwelcome critters that appeared from time to time. (She was always careful to point out that she did not do snakes.)
She adored her grandsons. She was so proud of them and loved to tell funny stories about them. When her grandson was very young and they had all gone out to eat, he announced that he wanted to sit in Jane’s lap at lunch. She was charmed and flattered, but noticed that nobody else was clamoring to hold him. She finally understood this reluctance when the meal was over and she found herself covered in the mac-and-cheese that he had been eating.
She had a lifelong interest in History and was especially fascinated with her family history. She loved her little cocker spaniels – Chelsea in Las Vegas and Abby in Belton.
She loved the Lord and was always known to pray for her family daily. She was baptized in 2004 in the Crystal River in Redstone, Colorado. Jane crossed to the other side to meet her Savior face to face.
She was predeceased by her parents and her brother, John Winford Baucum. She is survived by her husband Rex, of Belton, and son Andrew, his wife Chrissy, and their sons, A.J., Nathan, and Luke of Shreveport; son Stephen Baird, granddaughter Stephenie Rene Baird Evans (Corey) and their children Layton and Lilly, all of Belton; Kenny Rex Baird of Waco; Sisters Joanne Baucum, Julie Baucum, and Jennifer Baucum Ramsey (Dave), all of Houston, and Jill Baucum Flannery of Austin; Niece Dr. Allison Ramsey of Los Angeles, Nephew Christopher Ramsey of Corpus Christi. She is also survived by two great grandchildren.
