HER LEGACY

The parents of Mary Grace Baker have established this fund to carry on the legacy of their beautiful daughter. Every dollar given spreads the love and joy that she so generously shared in her lifetime. Gifts to the Mary Grace Baker Fund will support organizations she loved dearly like St. Anne Catholic School, Beaumont Civic Ballet, West End Little League, and more.

Please join us in keeping Mary Grace's memory alive by continuing what she started—making this world better.

MAXIMIZE YOUR IMPACT

If you or your spouse work for one of the 20,000+ companies offering Matching Gift programs, your employer will double or even triple your donation. Here's how:

Complete your company’s matching gift form. Our tax ID number is EIN 76-0530567.
Send your company’s form back to us via mail or email: director@cfsetx.org

For gifts of complex assets like securities, please contact:

Mellie Bevilacqua
Executive Director
409-833-5775
director@cfsetx.org

If you prefer to mail a check, please mail your check and make it payable to:

The Foundation for Southeast Texas
700 North Street
Beaumont, TX 77701

On the memo line, please write "Mary Grace Baker Memorial Fund"

MARY GRACE BAKER'S LIFE STORY

Mary Grace Baker came into our world on April 10, 2017, to Katie O’Neill Baker and Clarke Baker in Beaumont, and returned to heaven on July 4, 2025.

Mary Grace carried herself with a presence that will never be forgotten. When she would spot a teacher, friend, or their parents in the wild, those beautiful blonde curls would bounce towards you until she collided into you with a hug so grand it would nearly knock you over.

Demonstrating her incredible strength and enthusiasm, she considered it a personal challenge to see how hard she could squeeze and maybe even successfully lift you off the ground.

Mary Grace was born with an affinity for warming hearts and bringing joy to others. In the mad dash to make it to dance after school, she wouldn’t have even left the carpool line before she cracked some joke that elicited belly laughs so hard from her two friends that could only be stopped by rolling down the windows and belting a Disney ballad or a song made up by Mary Grace.

To say she lived big would be an understatement.

She learned to ski in Montana, hula in Hawaii, filled her dreams with becoming a Rockette in New York, became a self-proclaimed rock climber in Maine, discovered that “It’s a Small World” was her favorite ride at Disney World, and had countless trips to Crystal Beach and her cousin’s ranch in Marble Falls.

Between travels, she filled her days with dance, tennis, baseball, piano, and school/church. She wore a tutu just as well as she wore baseball pants. And sometimes even at the same time.

With five years at MWAD, a day never passed without her practicing the latest trick: a back-bend, a plié, and the ever-important jump back into “neat feet.”

She was thrilled to be an angel in the Beaumont Civic Ballet’s 2023 production of The Nutcracker, and was greatly anticipating her return to the Nutcracker. Though she fashioned herself a future ‘Clara,’ God knew she was meant to reprise her role as an angel.

She loved her extracurricular activities. But most importantly, she loved every friend there, so much so that she selected her activities to maximize the number of people she could see. Saturdays even entailed a sacred hour of extra playtime with her best friend of five years, JR Tortorice, under the guise of tennis lessons with Coach Scott.

When at home, Mary Grace enjoyed endless swimming and art time. If she ever suspected someone was feeling down, she would instantly craft a trinket to cheer you up. As a lover of rainbows, legos, tiny beads, and sequins were a natural medium for her elaborate creations, even at a young age.

Her school years began at Calder Baptist nursery, followed by three joyful years at Trinity Weekday Ministries, and four beautiful years at St. Anne Catholic School (SAS). She loved every single teacher who so generously poured into her.

Mary Grace was a brilliant student and managed to accomplish quite a bit in her academic career—even becoming principal (of the day) at SAS this year. Like a fairy godmother to her peers, she granted all 2^nd graders a homework-free PJ day. Never one to discriminate, she mandated that Prek-4 (brother Jeb’s grade) and 5th grade (Aunt Emily is a 5th grade teacher) got extra recess time. She became a school-wide hero when she gave all students free popsicles.

However, the most fitting title she held at SAS was that of a proud recipient of the St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Award. In May, she was acknowledged as one of only nine children in the school who demonstrate Catholic principles in and out of the classroom, hold a positive attitude towards others, excel scholastically, and serve others. In short, Mary Grace demonstrated outstanding faith through her behavior at school and all she encountered.

Parents Clarke and Katie ensured that faith remained a cornerstone of Mary Grace’s life, having been baptized at four months old by Deacon Randy Cashiola, with whom she has shared a very special relationship and loved dearly. She received her First Reconciliation. Then two weeks after her eighth birthday, she received her First Holy Communion at St. Jude Thaddeus Catholic Church where she had once received the sacrament of baptism.

God and family were the true center of Mary Grace’s life. Her relationship with cousins, aunts, uncles, siblings, and grandparents ran deep.

Besides Mom and Dad, she considered Nana (her maternal grandmother) to be her ultimate companion. To Mary Grace, special time with Nana meant trips to Dollar Tree, Nana-hosted playdates, countless sleepovers, and seeing her volunteer at Vacation Bible School and in the Atrium program at SAS.

To Mom and Dad, that special time meant more than the much-appreciated caregiving provided. It was a collection of moments when Nana intentionally instilled the love of the Lord in Mary Grace’s heart.

Her grandparents were grateful recipients of those famous hugs. She enjoyed golfing with PatPat, spa time with Shesha, and playing tickle monster with Popsie.

Most of all, Mary Grace adored her little brother Jeb. He was included in every activity and playdate. And like any good big sister, she never gave up insisting that he follow her rules. She loved her brother deeply and told her parents that she wanted to protect him as if he were her own son.

Among the many traditions in their home, perhaps the most lively activity at the Baker household was asking which team Mary Grace would pull for on college game day. A consummate Aggie (mainly guilt by association), her daddy always knew she had a sweet spot for her mom’s Longhorns.

Mom looked forward to seeing Mary Grace light up in August when she would have been invited to be a Queen’s Attendant at the 78th Neches River Festival, an honor she would have wholeheartedly cherished. Recently, she had taken up Mahjong like her mother, and the two were already planning an enchanting Mahjong-themed 9th birthday party for Mary Grace.

A testament to how much she loved her mother, she barred complaints when the family suited up in their matching Christmas PJs each year. She also gladly tolerated the carefully curated daily wardrobe that coordinated with Jeb’s.

Daddy enjoyed the special one-on-one time he got with his girl on the way to school each day. But the very best part of his day was watching the smile cross her face as they rounded the corner onto 13th Street and approached the grounds of her beloved school.

Mary Grace also cherished those special daddy-daughter moments. For five years, they would wake up together at sunrise on the first weekend of March. Holding hands as father-daughter and coach-player, they would make their way to the iconic Opening Day ceremony at West End Little League. It became her favorite day of the year, especially as her little brother, Jeb, began to join them.

Mary Grace possessed the wonderfully lighthearted silliness that we hope for all of our children. And even showed the maturity that we would hope for ourselves as adults.

Her love for family and friends was matchless. There was never a stranger she wouldn’t hug. There was never a classmate she wouldn’t protect. She embodied everything good in our world, and showed this goodness to anyone she interacted with.

Mary Grace will forever remain a light to our world.

Survivors include her parents, Katie and Clarke Baker; brother, John Edward “Jeb” Baker; grandparents, Darlene and Pat O’Neill and Alisha and Mike Baker, all of Beaumont; great-grandmother, Nancy Baker of Pineville, Louisiana; aunt Molly O’Neill Jenkins and her husband Bo (both Godparents), and their children, Robby, Sonny, and Laurel and uncle, Collin Baker and his wife, Kelly and their children, Molly and Will, all of Austin; aunt, Emily Baker of Beaumont; uncle, Clayton Baker of Mary Esther, Florida; aunt, Caroline Parker and her husband, James, of Houston; great-aunts and uncles, Martha and Hugh Hood of Waco, Julie and Chris O’Neill of Kingwood, Drs. Karen and Ed Collins of Beaumont, and Debbie and Jerry Minyard of Beaumont, Barbara and Mike Dove of Lumberton; and numerous cousins.

She is preceded in death by her grandmother, Beverly Collins Baker of Beaumont.

🎀 Mary Grace Baker Memorial Fund 🎀

The Baker Family's Official Fund through the Foundation for Southeast Texas