Sara Margaret Shrewsbury (nee Bell) Baker Dalton, 96, of Cary, N.C., formerly of Morgantown, Phoenix and Mobile, Ala., passed away at the Swift Creek Health Center while on hospice in Cary, N.C. Sara was born in Morgantown, Nov. 23, 1924, and married 1st Lt. Harold C Baker II, AAC, in Maricopa, Ariz., in 1944, where Harold was stationed as a pilot with the Army. In 1945, Baker was killed while piloting a P-51 fighter plane, and Sara returned to Morgantown, where she gave birth to their son, Harold C. Baker III.
In Morgantown, Sara started a second family with John W. Dalton (deceased). Two children, Alan Dale (deceased) and David William were born from this union. She then married James E. Shrewsbury (deceased) in 1972. Moving back to Phoenix, she spent 20 years working for American Express and serving as an adjunct special education and reading teacher. Upon retirement in 1988, she worked in her flower garden, a lifelong passion and traveled the world extensively with the AMEX retirement group until she moved to Mobile, Ala., near her son, Harold. Ten years later, she made her final move to Cary, N.C., to be near her son, David.
Sara was a lifelong Methodist, a former member of Avery United Methodist Church in Morgantown and a member of the Genesis UMC, of Cary, N.C. She was also a member of Chapter #35, Order of the Eastern Star and of Bethlehem Shrine #2, White Shrine of Jerusalem.
Sara was the first of five children of Edmund Searle Bell and Margaret Miller Bell, both deceased. Her brothers (all deceased) were Edmund S. Bell Jr., of Granville, Ohio, Gordon W. Bell, of Alexandria, Ky., Thomas M. Bell of Mainville, Ohio, and Theodore (Ted) F. Bell, of Deltona, Fla.
She is survived by nine grandchildren, 21 great-grandchildren and six step-grandchildren.
“Margie,” as she was known in her hometown, was cremated and will be interred at Pleasant Hill Cemetery near Morgantown.
The family will receive friends at Fred L. Jenkins Funeral Home, from 5 p.m. until the celebration of life, which will begin at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 6, with Pastor Dan Meadows officiating.
Condolences:
www.fredjenkinsfuneralhome.com
