Many may not know that Miss Evelyn Baker’s connection to Hampshire began early when she graduated as valedictorian of the Hampshire High School Class of 1932. She started teaching in 1937 at the rural Bean School in Hampshire and joined the faculty of Hampshire High in 1949.
For more than three decades, Miss Baker taught seventh grade — an important and sometimes challenging year for students. An advocate for reading, she initiated a developmental reading program that helped many students build skills and confidence giving them a better foundation for success in high school.
Miss Baker will also be remembered for sharing her passion for bird watching with students. Many saw a whole different side of her when, binoculars in hand, she excitedly called out, “There’s a red-headed woodpecker!” on outings with seventh graders — trips that often-included roasting hot dogs at the Hampshire Forest Preserve. Those special bird-watching trips were moments many students will never forget.
