Sylvia Mae Baisden

Sylvia Mae Baisden

December 13, 1932 — October 22, 2019

The Lord mercifully took Sylvia to her eternal home Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2019, as He had promised long ago. Sylvia was a resident at Windchime at the Village, Kingsland, Texas, where she had been receiving assisted living and eventually Hospice care, to address the issue of intense body pain. With bestowal of the Lord’s mercy, she was delivered from her prolonged suffering and given rest and reception into His loving arms at 6:30 a.m., with devoted husband, Ken, near her side.

Sylvia was blessed with the powerful waters of Baptism and given rebirth into God’s Kingdom, at an early age. She was confirmed in the Lutheran Church and with the Lord’s blessing, united in Holy Matrimony with her lifetime partner, Ken, on Aug. 23, 1951, at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, St. Paul, Minnesota, the Reverend Martin S. Bredow the officiant.

For the next twenty years, she was Ken’s support person as he sought to make a career in the United States Air Force. This meant numerous changes of station, movement of household goods, and every effort possible to keep the growing family intact, healthy, and raised in a Christian household. Sylvia was the anchor that kept the family united and able to make transitions in life to different environments possible. These changes of location included Maine, Colorado, Louisiana, Newfoundland, Texas, California, and North Dakota.

With her heels digging “ruts in the ground” she left what she thought would be the family’s retirement home in Merced, California, in the summer of 1971 when a new life began that would continue for the next 40 years. This period of her life began when Ken began his studies at Concordia Seminary, Springfield, Illinois, and eventually included serving as Ken’s “right hand” in forming and developing congregations at Palestine, Jacksonville, Centerville, Round Rock, Texas, Wickenburg, Arizona, a 3-year Chaplaincy at Bethesda Lutheran Homes, Northern Illinois, and finally returning to Texas to serve at Genesis Lutheran Church, Buchanan Dam. Throughout, Sylvia was instrumental in organizing and serving in each Church’s Office. She was much loved in her devotion to the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League. It was in this organization that she took a “back seat” and joined closely with her sisters in the faith as they supported local and world-wide missionary efforts.

The family was blessed with 5 children: Jeffrey Kenneth and John William, who preceded her; Gary (wife Debbie), Thomas (wife Toni), Karen (husband A.J.); and Patricia, our much-loved daughter-in-law, widow of John. There are 16 grandchildren and 12 greatgrandchildren. Sylvia was preceded by her sister Margret and is the last member of the Johan William and Lilly Cristina (nee BrattstrÖm) Hallgren family.

Visitation will be 10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 26, 2019 at the Genesis Lutheran Church, 15946 East State Highway 29, Buchanan Dam, Texas 78609 with funeral services to follow at 11. Pastor Trey Rienstra will be officiating. The family requests memorial donations be made to Lutheran Women’s Missionary League (LWML) at Genesis Lutheran Church, PO Box 994, Buchanan Dam, Texas 78609. An online guest registry may be signed at Putnam Cares.com.

Sylvia’s care entrusted to Putnam Funeral Home and Crematory, 145 Texas Avenue, Kingsland, Texas 78639. (325)388-0008.