Obituary of James Stanley Baird

James Stanley Baird, 86, a Fort Atkinson artist and photographer for more than six decades, passed away peacefully Jan. 25, 2016, at St. Mary�s Hospital, Madison, following complications from a heart attack.� Baird was born May 8, 1929, in Kenosha, the son of Stanley and Margaret (Wharrie) Baird. He began his love affair with art while growing up in Burlington, delicately working with pencils, pens, pastels, and paint to draw landscapes, still lifes, animals, cartoons, and more. His family moved to Fort Atkinson in 1943 when Baird�s father transferred to the local office of the Wisconsin Electric Power Company. Baird attended Fort Atkinson High School where he was president of his junior class, president of student council his senior year, and a football lineman under coach Forrest Perkins. While in high school he won honors in a National Scholastic magazine art contest conducted by the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh. His pen and ink entry entitled �Home Town� depicted Fort Atkinson�s skyline. Baird graduated from Fort Atkinson High School in 1947 and attended Whitewater State Teachers College (now University of Wisconsin-Whitewater). While in Whitewater he studied etching under the late Leon Pescheret, a preeminent artist with a studio there. It was Pescheret�s techniques that most influenced the skills Baird developed for his own artwork. For three years Baird worked summers, weekends, and after school at James Manufacturing Company, apprenticing under the late Gilbert Knoerr, the company�s commercial artist. Baird�s art and illustration skills landed him a job at Hoard�s Dairyman magazine in March 1948. While hired as an artist, he also soon became a proficient photographer for the international dairy magazine. Baird said the best decision he ever made was marrying Verna N. Miller from Milton Junction on June 18, 1950, at the First United Methodist Church in Fort Atkinson. She was a secretary, also employed by the W. D. Hoard Company. They enjoyed 62 years of marriage, with Verna preceding him in death on November 6, 2012. During his 45-year career with Hoard�s Dairyman, Baird handled most of the Hoard Dairyman magazine�s layout and photography. He witnessed and participated in significant technology changes between his 1948 hiring and his 1993 retirement�changes in magazine printing, black- and-white and color photography, and dairying. Over the years he drew hundreds of illustrations and took photographs to accompany magazine articles. He took nearly 700 cover pictures for the magazine, photographing dairy cattle in pastures, barns, and shows in 37 states. The rules for the covers were very specific; each cover had to have a cow in it. Baird was especially well-known for his cow paintings and postcards of the �Foster Mothers of the Human Race� and for his holiday covers on the Hoard�s Dairyman magazine and the Daily Jefferson County Union. These covers usually featured church, nativity, or rural scenes and showcased them in the beautiful but painstaking technique known as scratchboard. These intricate drawings quickly became signature Christmas cards for both publications and reflected Baird�s life-long attention to detail. In all, Baird created more than 100 scratchboard pictures, other drawings, acrylic and oil paintings, etchings and pastels at work and in his spare time. Those original art pieces, and prints from them, grace the homes of family, friends, and businesses across the U.S., plus hang in the Hoard Historical Museum, the National Dairy Shrine, and many churches, businesses, and schools in the area. For many years, Baird participated in the annual Hoard Museum Art Show. His entries in the adult professional historical category helped document scenes of Fort Atkinson�s past and present. He often won awards for his meticulous artwork�subjects as diverse as an old horse to �Camelot,� a painting where he creatively re-arranged Fort Atkinson landmarks. As far back as 1951 he and the late Fran Klitze co-chaired the first Rural Art Association exhibit held in Fort Atkinson. In 1985, the then relatively new Fort Atkinson Arts Council selected Baird for its first one-man, week-long art exhibit. Outside of his professional career, Baird volunteered at the Hoard Historical Museum and the National Dairy Shrine. He designed the original dairy exhibit at the museum and was involved in the development of the National Dairy Shrine. Baird obtained and donated many dairying artifacts housed in the Dairy Shrine and authored a booklet, �Dairy Collectibles� in which he documented and illustrated his findings about early dairy implements. He served on the Historical Society board of directors in the 1980s, developed the Tool & Trades exhibit for the museum and was an avid collector of antique tools, some hand-made by his grandfather. He often donned his work apron, fired up a forge, and demonstrated his love of blacksmithing and antique tools to family and museum visitors. Baird served in the Wisconsin National Guard for over 15 years. The state Guard unit was called to active duty during the Berlin Crisis in 1961 and he was based at Fort Lewis, Washington, for a year. The patience and steadiness he had as an artist were also valuable traits on the rifle range. As a member of the military and later as a civilian, he won many state and national medals, trophies, and commendations for marksmanship. He was a U.S. Army Distinguished Rifleman, a Wisconsin high-power rifle champion, a National Guard national champion, member of the prestigious �President�s Hundred� group of military marksmen, and was selected twice for the Sixth U.S. Army Rifle Team. In the early 1960s he was a principal leader and instructor for the Black Hawk Junior Rifle Club, teaching 12-to-18-year-olds the proper handling of firearms as well as marksmanship. In October 2012 Baird received National Dairy Shrine�s highest honor, the Pioneer award, for his contributions to the dairy industry. Baird�s other honors included the 1990 Lions� Club Distinguished Community Service Award, a Certificate of Service to the Community by the City of Fort Atkinson, the 1988 Fort Atkinson Historical Society Volunteer of the Year, and a 1971 Wisconservation Club Conservation Award. Baird was a member of the First United Methodist Church, American Legion, Jaycees, and the Midwest Tool Collector�s Association. Until a year ago he served as a long-time trustee of his ancestors� historical home church, the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Vernon in Big Bend, Wisconsin, which is no longer in operation but opens once annually for a service. Survivors include his three children: Perry (Marcia) Baird, Paula (Rick) Schroeder, and Steven (Lois) Baird, all of Fort Atkinson; grandchildren and great-grandchildren, Colin (Stacey) Baird and daughters, Charlotte and Ella of Luxemburg, Wis.; Bridget (Sira) Nsibirwa and children, Gavin and Gabriella, of Fort Atkinson; Drew (Christine) Baird and children Zachary and Hannah, of Belton, Tex.; Lesley Baird, of Windsor, Wis.; Hillary Baird, of Fort Atkinson, and Joelle Baird (Adam Sherman) of Grand Canyon Village, Ariz. Also step-grandchildren and step great-grandchildren, Jason (Erin) Rauber and children Blake, Atley, and Hadyn, Emily Rauber and daughter Lily, Angelina Nsibirwa, Lisa Schroeder and son, Colton, and Terri (Sean) Connery and daughters, Alysha and Hailey; sister, Margaret (Carl) Birk, of Fort Atkinson; sister-in-law, Donna Baird, of Oconto, Wis.; cousin, Nancy (Dennis) Prahl, of Appleton, Wis., nieces, nephews, other relatives and special friends. Baird was preceded in death by his wife, Verna; parents; two brothers, Robert and William Baird; and sister, Mary. Memorial services will be held at the First United Methodist Church, 320 S. Main St., Fort Atkinson, on Tuesday, February 2, 2016 at 11 a.m., with the Rev. Russell Frees officiating. A luncheon will follow in Fellowship Hall. Visitation will take place from 9:30 until the time of services at the church. Burial will be at a later date at the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Vernon Cemetery, Big Bend, Wis., where four generations of the Baird family are buried. Nitardy Funeral Home in Fort Atkinson, Wis., is assisting the family. In lieu of flowers, those considering memorials may wish to direct them to the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Vernon (sent in the church name to Trustee Perry Baird) or the First United Methodist Church, Fort Atkinson. The family extends its gratitude to the wonderful staff and friends at Black Hawk Senior Residence where Jim made his home the past two years, and also to Shelley and Randy Hoefs for helping Jim and Verna in many ways through the years. �