Jane Marie Baker Austin

Jane Marie Baker was born in McNairy County on January 29, 1933, to E.M. and Myrtle Weatherford Baker. On February 2, 1951, she married Lloyd M. Austin and moved to Savannah, Tennessee. They were married for 43 years. After Lloyd's death, February 17, 1994, she continued to live on their farm in the Olivet Community. On her eighty second birthday, she moved to Alcoa, Tennessee to live out her remaining life with their only daughter, Patricia Ann Austin Anderson and be near her grandchildren.

On June 2, 2023, she departed this life at 90 years old to live forever with her Savior, Jesus Christ. She is joining her parents and her husband, along with her sisters, Virgie Harville, Earline Foster, Jessie Neill, and brothers, Junior Baker, Tom Baker, Joe Baker, and George Paul Baker. She will be greatly missed by her daughter and son-in-law, Pat and David Anderson; as well as her grandchildren, Amanda (Ken) Rollins and Elizabeth (David) McNeill of Knoxville, Tennessee; Susanna Waters (Brian) of Alcoa, Tennessee; David Anderson, II (Autumn) of Maryville; and Sarah Cobb (David) of Bartlett, Tennessee. She also had 10 great grandchildren - Kathryn Celeste Rollins, Vince Hurst-Rollins (Natalie), Connor Rollins, Audrey Waters, Christopher Waters, Anna Kate Waters, Jacqueline Anderson, Oliver Anderson, Finn Anderson, and Benjamin Anderson. She leaves the last four siblings - David Baker (Barbara) of Michie, Tennessee; Fran Nelms (Tony) and Chloe Brassell (Jim) of Gallatin, Tennessee; and Ann Johnson (William) of Iuka, Mississippi. With the Baker Clan being such a close knit family, there is a host of nieces and nephews, of whom she loved very dearly.

If you knew Jane Austin, you knew she was a Proverbs 31 Southern lady. She wore many hats, but most of all she was clothed in the armor of God, a Christian since her childhood. She loved being a wife and mother. Even though she only had one biological child, Patricia, she was a foster mother to some 38 children over a fifteen year period. The family received their first children when Patricia was finishing her junior year in high school. The Austins took pride in teaching and training the children as their own. She would make the girls' clothes and as they got older, she would teach them to sew. Some of these girls still tell stories how they had to take out the seams and "do it right." Gardening, harvesting, canning, and freezing was always a spring and summer activity that increased in size as the family "grew." The rewards were abundant and enjoyed by family, friends, and neighbors. The children learned these skills as well. Each child had a very special place in her heart and they all knew it.