Projo.com
As the gay-rights debate intensified nationwide, Pat Baker emerged as a face of the strife on the local front.
Struggling with terminal lung cancer, Baker spent sleepless nights urging lawmakers to repeal a law that forbids the federal government to recognize same-sex marriages.
Twice, the longtime correctional officer at the Adult Correctional Institutions dragged herself, oxygen tank in tow, to the State House in March to testify for equal rights for gays and lesbians.
“I worked for those benefits,” Baker said then. “And when I say worked, I worked hard. You name it, it’s happened. I’ve found inmates hanging; I’ve found inmates dead from suicide. I’ve been traumatized mentally and physically, only to get to this point in my life when I’m terminally ill … and I find out my wife is being begrudged $1,861 a month.”
“This kind of bigotry has to be rectified,” Baker said in an interview at her home, vowing to fight until her last breath.
Baker, 55, died Sunday at Kent Hospital. She is survived by her wife of six years, Deborah Tevyaw, whom she married in Massachusetts; two brothers, Richard Baker and Frederick Divers; a sister, Deborah Baker; and her beloved dog, Hooch.
“She had the biggest heart in the world,” Tevyaw, who met Baker about nine years ago through mutual friends, said Monday. The two married in Provincetown on Aug. 4, 2005, and had planned to renew their vows there this month, but called off the plans as Baker was hospitalized.
“I’m so devastated and so heartbroken,” Tevyaw said, her voice breaking. “I lost my best friend, my partner, my confidant, and my wife, and she died without her wish.”
Tevyaw vowed to “fight for the dream that Pat worked so hard” for — her promise to her wife.
“I know it’s a long, hard road, but I don’t think anybody should tell anybody [else] who they should love,” Tevyaw said. “I don’t know what’s ahead of me, but I’m willing to fight it.”
Marriage Equality Rhode Island, a group that works for same-sex marriage, issued a statement mourning Baker’s death.
“Rhode Island has lost a great champion for civil rights, and we have all lost a dear friend,” said Martha Holt, Marriage Equality Rhode Island Board chairwoman. “Pat Baker personified courage and demonstrated remarkable strength in her lifetime. Her gentle, determined voice became synonymous with the equality movement, and she demonstrated to all that love truly does make a family.”
Visiting hours will be held Tuesday from 4 to 8 p.m. at Thomas & Walter Quinn Funeral Chapel, 2435 Warwick Ave. in Warwick. The funeral service will be held Wednesday at 10 a.m. Burial will follow at St. Ann Cemetery in Cranston.