Karalinn Baker

WEATHER ALERT WEATHER ALERT: Due to blizzard conditions, there will no longer be a memorial visitation this afternoon at the funeral home. The memorial visitation will be held tomorrow prior to services. The service time has been changed to 1:00PM on Monday with a dinner to follow services. Please pass on the word. Thanks for your understanding. Greg Furness Karalinn S. Baker, age 36, Garretson, SD, formerly of Watertown, died at her home near Garretson on January 19, 2014 from respiratory difficulties. A memorial visitation will be held on Sunday, January 26, 2014 from 4-6PM at the Furness Funeral Home at Clark and will continue after 9AM on Monday morning in the funeral home chapel. Memorial services will be held on Monday, January 27, 20-14 at 11:00 AM in the Furness Funeral Home Chapel. The officiant with be Pastor Mark Tracy with Dorothy Fuller as pianist. The eulogy will be by Jerry Payne, Karalinn's Uncle and Mentor. Honorary casketbearers will be Michelle West, Heidi and Haili Ruckdaschle, Jamie Erickson, Craig Wiedman, Christy Ching and Jessica Frost. Burial will be private. She was born Karalinn Shirley Baker on March 7, 1977 at Aberdeen, the daughter of Kim (Jones) and Jerry Baker. At that time, Jerry was in the Army, based in Ft. Knox, KY, where the family resided until they transferred to Ft. Bliss, TX. After a 3-year stint, the family moved to Hecla, SD, for a year, then settled in Watertown, SD, where Karalinn grew up and attended Watertown High School. Karalinn was her father's little "punkin'", and he treasures the short years they shared. After graduating, she joined the United States Forest Service in New Mexico and worked for them from 1998-2003. Working outdoors was her passion, loving hiking and fighting forest fires. She went on to receive many awards and was put in charge of her own squad. She later returned to Watertown where she attended Mount Marty College, earning her Bachelor Degree in Business. Being a strong willed woman, she graduated with honors, working several jobs, and paid her own way through school. One of them, dear to her heart, was working on the family farm, alongside her step-dad, Mark, who was extremely proud of her. She could drive the big ole tractors with no problems, doing most of the tillage, and some planting, working long hours. She had a work ethic not found very often in today's world. After college graduation, she moved to Sioux Falls, and later, to Garretson. During this time, she worked at Wells Fargo, where she originally started out as a temporary employee. After a short time, she excelled quickly to full time. She worked there until her untimely death. Although she suffered from chronic asthma her whole life, she never let it get in the way of enjoying life with all her friends, coworkers, and family. Besides being outdoors, Kara also enjoyed listening to music, great movies - even being called a movie buff, volunteering and traveling, especially her travels to the Bahamas and Mexico with friends. Grateful for having shared in her life is her mother, Kim Ericksen and step-father, Mark Ericksen of Hazel, SD, her father, Jerry Baker of Oxnard, CA, two siblings, Keturah Baker of Mammoth Lakes, CA and Josh Baker of Oxnard, CA, maternal grandfather, Tom Jones, Sr. of Webster, SD, paternal grandparents, John and Norma Jean Baker of Britton, SD and many loving aunts, uncles and cousins. Preceding her in death was her beloved grandmother, Shirley Jones of Webster. Kara had a fondness for the color pink, in her honor, a splash of pink in the attire you wear for her funeral would be appropriate. Furness Funeral Home of Clark is serving the family where there is an on-line registry at www.furnessfuneralhome.com