Marion Baxter, nursery school teacher

Marion Sanford Baxter of South Olmstead Lane, a retired nursery school teacher who had lived in Ridgefield for 50 years, died on Friday, Dec. 28, at Danbury Hospital. She was 70 years old and the wife of Woodford R. Baxter.
Mrs. Baxter was born in Milford on April 19, 1931, a daughter of the late Henry R. and Eda Spencer Sanford. In 1939 she moved with her family to Wilton, living in the former Bald Hill Methodist Church parsonage on Ridgefield Road. She attended Wilton schools and graduated in 1949 from Staples High School, Westport, which then served Wilton students.
In 1951, after her marriage to Ridgefield native Woodford Baxter, she moved to Ridgefield, living for several years on Ramapoo Road and for the last 42 years on South Olmstead Lane. She and her husband marked their 50th wedding anniversary last March 11. They were married in the old Jesse Lee Methodist Church at Main and Catoonah streets.
Mrs. Baxter had taught at the Creative Children’s Korner of Ridgefield for 15 years.
In recent years she had worked at several shops in town, most recently at Victoria’s on Main Street and before that, the Ridgefield General Store.
She was a member of the Jesse Lee Memorial United Methodist Church of Ridgefield and of its Deborah Circle.
For relaxation, Mrs. Baxter enjoyed needlework, gardening and walking. She was an expert at flower arranging and pursued many crafts, including making dried flower wreaths, some of which she sold commercially.
“She was a very warm and compassionate person who always put her family first,” said her daughter, Gail B. Hall of Longwood, Fla. “My parents had a wonderful marriage for 50 years.”
Besides her husband and her daughter from Florida, Mrs. Baxter is survived by two sons: Glenn C. Baxter of Danbury and Keith A. Baxter of Waterbury; a sister: Helen McElwee of Westport; six grandchildren, three great-grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews.
The Rev. Emily Hall of Jesse Lee Memorial United Methodist Church conducted services Monday morning. Burial followed in Bald Hill Cemetery, Wilton.
Contributions in Mrs. Baxter’s memory may be made to one’s favorite charity.
The Kane Funeral Home, 41 Catoonah Street, was in charge of arrangements.