Sister Mary Regina of the Assumption, O.P. (Barbara Jean Baker}

Sister Mary Regina of the Assumption, O.P. (Barbara Jean Baker), 85, died August 4, 2021 at a local hospital. Sister Mary Regina was born to the late Samuel Clifford Baker and Emma Martin (later McGee) on August 29, 1935 in Cincinnati, OH.

She was raised by her paternal grandmother on a farm in Somerset, KY, attending elementary school in Kentucky. After her grandmother’s death, she moved to Cincinnati to live with her father and stepmother, Eileen Baker, finishing 6th grade through high school there. After graduating from high school, Sister worked as a beautician in a salon in Shillito’s Department Store in Cincinnati for 3 or 4 years having earned a cosmetology license from the company’s school in New York City. Raised in the Baptist church, Sister converted to Catholicism in 1954 at the age of 18. A year later, in 1955, she entered the Dominican Monastery of the Holy Name in Cincinnati, where she made her religious profession in 1957. When the Monastery of the Holy Name closed in 1989, Sister transferred to the Monastery of the Infant Jesus in Lufkin, TX. Sister spent many years as the monastery cook both in Cincinnati and Lufkin. She also sewed clothing for the Sisters and played the organ. Gifted with a keen intelligence, remarkable memory, and fine sense of humor, Sister had a lifelong love of science, especially astronomy.

Sister Mary Regina is preceded in death by her parents and her half-sister, Rebecca Baker.

She is survived by her half-sister and brother-in-law, Bonnie and Dale Gloeckner of Cincinnati, OH; her nephews and their wives: Robert Lee Simonis; James A. and Carol McQuery of Richmond, MI; and Cory and Chloe Gloeckner of Superior, WI; and her great-nephews: Connor McQuery, Evan McQuery, and Alec McQuery.

Rosary and viewing will be held in the Monastery Chapel in the Monastery of the Infant Jesus at 7:00 p.m., Monday, August 9, 2021. Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 9:30 a.m. in the Monastery Chapel on Tuesday, August 10, 2021 with Bishop Joseph Strickland officiating. Interment in the Monastery Cemetery will immediately follow the Mass.

Pallbearers are David Bomer, Florencio Rodriguez, Tim Healy, Tim Allen, Dr. Brian Carlin, and Doug Russell.

Services have been placed in the trust of Gipson Funeral Home.