Elsie Baker, 81, Wrote Books About Children With Cystic Fibrosis

Elsie Baker and her late husband, the Rev. Clinton C. Baker, came to Northeast Ohio from Tennessee in 1966, so their two young children could be treated for cystic fibrosis at Cleveland’s state-of-the-art medical facilities.

 The Lakewood resident, who died April 10 at age 81, wrote books under the pseudonym Meg Woodson to tell about her youngsters living with chronic illness and about the family dealing with their deaths.

 Their son, Timothy, was 12 when he died 1974. Their daughter, Elizabeth “Betsy,” died in 1983 at age 23.

 Baker changed the names of her husband and children in her books, but readers had no trouble recognizing that her books were based on fact, according to reviews posted on online book sites.

She wrote Following Joey Home, which was published in 1978, four years after her son’s death.

 Her 1982 book I’ll Get To Heaven Before You Do! deals with a chronically ill child, presumably her daughter, realizing that the illness may shorten her life.

 In Turn It into Glory: A Mother's Moving Story of Her Daughter's Last Great Adventure, Baker takes it a step further, describing the period leading up to her daughter’s death and how the family’s religious faith affected their perspective.

 Other titles include The Time of Her Life and Making It Through the Toughest Days of Grief.

 From 1967 until 1995, her husband pastored Parma Park Reformed Church in Parma Heights, which became Church in the Woods. He died of complications from a heart attack in 1997 at age 67.

 Baker, whose maiden name was Blucher, is survived by her sister, Shirley Gable.

 Friends may call from 10 a.m. until noon services Saturday, April 16, at Busch Funeral Home, 7501 Ridge Road, Parma.