The Truth About Marian

The book, A Murder In Paradise, tells quite a story. Sadly, it  doesn't tell a true story. Readers in general place a total trust in an author when they devote their time to immersing themselves in a book.  I am a fairly tough reader. I lose confidence in material even at the slightest misspelling. I suppose that is the result of my upbringing, my education and the era in which I was raised. To this day I am offended and none to happy when I see misspellings on a crawl on the bottom of the daily news. Holding the passing on of information is a serious task to me. Unless you are genuine in your facts, even down to minutiae, you are simply sharing fiction. The book I referenced above was in good part, misinformation and fiction.

Yes, there are inclusions from the trial. There are paragraphs that expound on some personal contact or brief interview with people who knew Edward Lester Gibbs and others related to him. But it is of incredible importance that no one in Marian Louise Baker's family was interviewed by Richard Gehman, the author. Much was said about her in generality in the book. Much innuendo was printed. But not one person who knew Marian best was given the opportunity to tell the readers about her.

In most cases, books are written to make money. In rare cases, like mine, the task of writing a book that is nonfiction is a purpose to set the record straight, or explain things relating to an event that either have never been revealed before or to tell the whole and complete version of events. In my case, it is also to tell Marian's story, to tell her truth.

Other than gruesome trial testimony and interpretation, the previous story was all about Edward Lester Gibbs. The crime was grisly and horrendous. It shattered the somewhat "Camelot" delusion most held in Lancaster, Pennsylvania at that time in history. Books about grisly crimes and sexual innuendo sell. They make money for the writer and the publishing house. Books about innocent little girls picking huckleberries on the family homestead sell, but much less when placed in the story continuum of a brutal murder.

Marian's story cannot be told without at least a chapter given over to Ed Gibbs and his pathos, his actions and his crime. But the story of Marian Baker was never told. She was bludgeoned by Ed Gibbs on a "dull day" in January of 1950. Afterwards, rumor and supposition took the place of her truth. That stops now.

I couldn't care less if I don't make a penny on Marian's story. It's not about that. It is about someone finally standing publicly to set the record straight. Each human being brings gifts to this world in what could be seen as the smallest of ways. Many of us have had the blessing of a bad day being turned around because of the smile of a stranger, because of the kindness of another human being who crossed our path. The person who offers kindness to others, makes someone's day is a gift not less than the person who settles a world crisis or cures a disease. Many people may benefit from gargantuan feats, but to the person who is having a bad moment benefits from the Marian Baker's in the world just as heavily. It matters to that one person.

I am happy often to recall the story of a person seen throwing a fish back into the water on a beach where hundreds have fish have washed up, flailing in the sand. An onlooker says to the person holding a fish, "Why bother? You can't save em all..." The response resonates with me to this day. "It matters to this one."

Marian's story has to include the3 events of January 1950. It is where her earthly life ended. Her life and story before that have never been unimportant. And although she is no longer walking this earth, she goes on. For no matter the difficult life she was handed even as a young girl, she was blessed with a family that, to this very day, think of her, miss her and carry on her memory. It has struck me deeply that even though the family was fractured and even geographically separated in the early years, the ties and bonds that refused to give way to the circumstances were stronger than anyone can imagine. The utter pain and anguish of not only her horrific death but the resulting attempts to tarnish her reputation would have made many families shove the story and the life experience far down in the file cabinet. One of those things not spoken of.

It has been devastating to lose Marian in the way she was lost. That was compounded by the salacious treatment of her character after her death. It was not deserved then and it is not deserved to this day.

So, this retelling of events will not be a repeat of the degradation of Marian Louise Baker's existence. Rather it will tell the truth. It will set the record straight. To many it will not matter. Many will wonder, "Why bother?" My answer is simple. It matters to Marian. And it matters to those who loved her and think of her today. And to those who wish to grasp tightly to the rumors, I hate to break it to you. This will not be a current version of a True Confessions tabloid. Marian loved reading "True" magazines. Simply because it was so far removed from her real life and her real makeup.

Marian Baker said no to Ed Gibbs. It is a matter of fact that bad things happened when people said no to Ed Gibbs.

Peeking Out From The Shadows

Marian Louise Baker would never have imagined that all these years later she is still remembered and still part of the local news. I wonder how she feels about that.



Marian Baker Not Forgotten To This Day

Update From F&M Regarding The Portrait

Hi Ms. Weik,

I have forwarded your inquiry to archives and special collections a couple of weeks ago and am waiting to hear back from them as to whether or not they have any information or the photo.  Traditionally such photos have been kept in archives. Unfortunately, the time period you are talking about predates the existence of this museum and even the period prior to collections committee which predated the museum for several decades.  We have very limited records regarding this time period as objects were generally cared for by the departments that held them.   To date, I have not run into any records related to this portrait and have not seen it in the museum's collection storage areas.  We are in the process of finishing a current inventory and should I find anything that is connected to the photo/portrait, I will  let you.

I'm sorry that I don't have any information at this time.

Sincerely,
Maureen Lane
Collections Manager
The Phillips Museum of Art

Welcome Fall.... Time in Lancaster County and Beyond Is Soup For The Soul!

A brief update....
On Friday, October 29, 2010 we returned yet again to Lancaster County for some research, some shopping and to revisit some sites and locations that are very important and dear to us.
We even journeyed to Columbia, Mountville, Ephrata, Adamstown, Reinholds, Vinemont, Galen Hall, Wernersville and beyond.
I have much filing and cross-referencing to do and will update here as I am able. Life is infringing a bit on my passions, which is only a good thing, since it includes our precious new baby boy :) I do have to say that life has cycled into one of the most positive and incredible phases we've encountered in a long time :) Business is booming for all of us, each in our own venue, and things are just GOOD :)
I am still awaiting responses from a few folks in reference to information and articles and materials about Marian. Patience is something I'm learning first hand to be sure.

Two Lines Left Their Points of Origin......And Their Intersection Was Deadly

The Franklin and Marshall College Campus served as the point of intersection for the lines that reperesent the lives of Marian Louise Baker and Edward Lester Gibbs.

Had Marion not been employed there, and had J. Lester and Florence Gibbs not demanded that their only child, son Eddie attend college, they never would have encountered each other.

The photos of the F & M campus show it's beauty from the past. It remains a beautiful campus today.

Steeped in authentic history, it's been the locus of learning of those who have gone into the world to create and generate impact and progress.

Marian Baker loved F & M. She was much more that "just a secretary". Marian was loved and very well thought of. That is precisely why no one even thought of checking the financial records or books when she was reported missing. There was never a question as to her honesty.

Edward Lester Gibbs had been a big fish in a small pond at Pitman High in New Jersey. He had excelled in most sports and was well known and well thought of. His family name was well known and his once uncle had been the Mayor of Pitman. That ended with the 1953 election. I do not for a fact whether his term limits prevented him from running again, whether he ran and lost or given the conviction and execution of his nephew, he decided to avoid the public limelight.

Marian graduated from Penn Manor, having taken the Commercial Course. She was hired shortly after graduation by Hamilton Watch Company, in the cafeteria. By a stroke of good luck, at the time, she was notified of a job opening at Franklin and Marshall College. There was no doubt as to her suitability for any job. She was meticulous, she was a hard worker, a pleasant and respectful and respectable young lady and conscientious beyond measure. She loved her job, she loved the college and she was in the midst of one of the happiest periods in her life. She became engaged at Christmas of 1949 to Edgar Rankin and looked forward to married life.

Marian Baker didn't have a promiscuous day in her life.

She was able to smile and appear to be rather comfortable with others, yet she may have been quite shy on the inside. She smiled easily and was an attractive young woman.

Jealous females who couldn't understand "the draw" of Marian made snide remarks and innuendoes. That practice goes on today, in great numbers and with far more insult included to anyone who the masses don't quite understand.

Marian's easy smile and friendliness, coupled with her lack of promiscuity made her the topic of comments and conversation. In addition to the jealous females, who clearly didn't know Marian at all, the men who got nowhere with Marian added fuel to the fire. The old fashioned, is it really?, practice of claiming to have gotten farther with a female than the facts would support was an insult to Marian.

The salacious claims would have gone down in history unspoken and unknown to all had Marian not been murdered in 1950.

Marian was popular with the college administration and officials. They recognized her loyalty to the school and her class. She was chosen to judge an advertising poster contest of Alpha Delta Sigma on the campus, in early 1949. She joined the ranks of Nancy Stonesifer, the Assistant Professor's wife who also worked with Marian in the Treasurer's Office and Max Hannum, the Assistant to the Dean. Alpha Delta Sigma was the national advertising fraternity. I have been told that Ed Gibbs was a member of Alpha Delta Sigma, being a Business major. Is this where he first met Marian. We know that he knew her from his visits to the Treasurer's Office. But that could have been the setting of Ed's first spying Marian, the beautiful young lady.

Marian participated in the college that she loved so dearly. I have wondered about Marian's later life. Would she have left the college to have children and raise them? Or would she hold the college so dear to her heart and stay on campus and grow and become even more a thread in the fabric of F & M?

The photograph of Marian that hung in the Bursar's Office in East Hall on the campus is of great interest to me and to others very close to Marian. I am in the process of finding out what happened to that photograph.

Did it hang there until the demolition? Was it placed in college storage? I'm anxiously awaiting answers to those questions.

Marian's photograph needs to be rehung. Or a commissioned painting of her needs to replace it.

Her heart belonged to F & M and she would be honored to be remembered there.

What an opposing view of humanity you get when you compare Marian Louise Baker to Edward Lester Gibbs.

There is NO comparison.

Gibbs had his demons. His mother's instability, his father's ineffectual stance.

Overprotected and spoiled, Ed was denied the very tools of development he needed to face life as a functioning adult. But he knew his own shortcomings. He bailed on help at the Guidance Center at F & M.

He needed to stand up to J. Lester and Florence and tell them that as a married adult man he was dropping out of college and getting a job. That was all he needed to do.

His parents needed to allow a separate human being the right to choose how he lived his life.

I hold no pity for Gibbs. I can understand the parts of the horror picture that became his life, but I don't excuse it.

A lack of courage killed Marian Baker.

Gibbs' parents lack of courage in allowing their son to make his own choices and perhaps not live up to the family name.....

Ed's lack of courage in taking a stand and doing what he needed to do. He wasn't going to graduate. He needed to blurt it out, hand his mother a handkerchief and take his lumps.

The Gibbs family in it's entirety is responsible for Marian's murder.

Ed wielded the lug wrench but his parents were sitting on his shoulder.

Societal position and appearance were more important to them than their son's happiness.

I can't imagine the relief Ed would have felt if at Christmas of 1949, when he did indeed tell his mother that there was a chance he'd not graduate, his mother would have shed a few tears and dealt with it.

Instead, her show of histrionics fed Ed's pathological desire to please. So he told her he was just kidding.

Christmas 1949....

Marian is filled with joy and happiness as she becomes engaged to Edgar Rankin.

Ed Gibbs is filled with dark frustration and rage.

And on January 10, 1950 Marian Baker paid the price for the sins of the Gibbs family.

Sad and horrible in its own right.

Now add to that a sloppily written book, by a largely absent author, tossing innuendo and scandal onto the memory of Marian Baker, where it surely didn't belong.

Gehman victimized Marian all over again.

And to this day, those that knew her and love her still just can't cotton to that.

It's never set well. It doesn't today.

It's a Totally New Story: The Marian Louise Baker Only A Few Were Privileged To Know

Most people feel it's just an old, worn out cliche...."To know her is to love her."

In Marian Louise Baker's case, it was simply true.

The young woman was respected, admired, liked and loved by all who were lucky enough to know her.

Until the crime in 1950, Marian wasn't in the public spotlight. And once the murder hit the media, the true Marian was never shared with the public. The newspapers articles repeatedly called her pretty or lovely. They also dabbled in the salacious with comments about the murder occurring in a "Lovers Lane" setting.
They never intimated that Marian had a hand in her own death or that she had it coming, but the true essence of Marian was never researched or presented.
Yes, Gibbs was definitely the bad guy. He was never, ever referred to with any real sense of sympathy or understanding. He bashed the life out of a beautiful young woman, in broad daylight, for no good apparent reason. You can't defend that.
The newspapers played their role in allowing questions to arise and swirl as to why Marian was with Ed Gibbs the day he killed her.
Richard Gehman made it a three-pointer.
Maybe the rules were different back then. Authors today are held to a level of truth and research. There are always others out there "fact checking" to keep other authors legitimate.
Not the case with Gehman.
The main character in his book was Gibbs. Clearly.
But Gehman took liberties with Marian Baker's name and reputation.
And never once spoke directly with her family.
He made sure to mention any innuendo and questionable behavior or rumor about Marian, but only countered it with brief, obligatory rebuttal. A few sentences couldn't possibly balance the information. And they certainly didn't tell the truth.
To this day, Marian is remembered and loved. Those that love her have never come to grips with the injustice done to her not only by Gibbs but by Gehman as well.
The real Marian Baker was so much more than anyone ever knew.
She was indeed a simple country girl. But she was meticulous in her work, well thought of by her employers and she loved F & M. She was not simply a secretary. She had shown her mettle and her intelligence as well as her conscientous attention to detail and accuracy. And she was such a pleasant person to be around.
She had a shy smile but never spoke badly of anyone. She had her opinions as we all do but she knew how to control her words. She never intentionally hurt anyone. She had true class. And she was a lady.
The folks she worked with at F & M recognized the qualities that made Marian the lady that she was and they often asked her to participate in college activities. I will never be sure, given the horrible turn of events, but I believe that had Marian lived, she had the potential to spend many, many successful years at F & M. She did, indeed love the school and the school did love her.
My goal is to present the real Marian Baker.
Many who knew her are gone now.
But some do remain, and she deserves to be presented as she actually was.
Finally.
And it can stand as a record in history.
I do believe that she would appreciate that.
Many of you are following this journey along with me. It's much like peeling the layers of an onion.
For all my years of research into Marian and the murder, it's taken forty-one years for me to finally be able to know about Marian from sources that are real and accurate. I can't begin to accurately express my gratitude to those who love Marian so much to this day and who are sharing their memories with me.
You all are the last vestige of hope for any of us to know Marian.
My journey is posted here as I go. It's an ongoing work in progress. I will keep sharing as I go.
And when the time has come when I and those who love Marian feel that the story is as complete as it can ever be, my work will be organized, compiled and set forth in a complete, cohesive story about the life and love of Marian Louise Baker.
I can only wish to be as loved as she is tonight.
It makes me get very quiet realizing just how important she remains, how much a part of her family she is right at this moment.
There is a thread of DNA running through Marian's family that is unbroken and unaltered. And it is comprised of character and love. As I interact more with family and friends of hers, I'm impressed by the character of all involved.
I'll keep posting my journey in its unaltered state. When we're at the end of that road, it will all be a complete story. And it will be available to everyone.
I do need to say something about my comments about F & M.
I have had a problem understanding why no memorial was created in Marian's honor.
I can't speak for what the mindset was at the college in the days and years after her murder. I don't believe any slight was intended. It's just a shame that for the love she held for the school and for the love and admiration so many there had for her that there was no lasting remembrance of her.
It may take me a long while to finally decide how to proceed with an ongoing memorial to Marian.
I need to get to know her much better. Then it will be clear how to do something lasting in her honor.

Some who are far more knowledgeable about the Marian Baker case than I  have known from the start that the facts as presented, at least in the book by Richard Gehman aren't quite right. Some are far from the mark. Some don't hit the target in the least.

I've come to learn much about the book, "A Murder In Paradise" by Richard Gehman. What I've learned I've learned from some who know the facts better than anyone else in the world. Their knowledge is the actual truth.

It's not that well known how the book was written. Gehman didn't do much leg work.

He culled newspaper clippings, some files, actually using the help of friends and colleagues in Lancaster, rather than doing the grunt work himself. What resulted was a superficial and loosely written retelling of some facts, a presentation of erroneous information and the insertion of a mood of scandal and innuendo.

This wasn't a project to tell the truth.

It clearly wasn't a passion of Gehman's to do his own research, figure out the facts, examine the discrepancies and ultimately tell the whole story.

He left much ground uncovered.

He didn't do a disservice to Ed Gibbs.

Ed was far more than Gehman ever learned or shared. If he did learn the truth about Gibbs, apparently he didn't care to tell it.

Gehman did a huge disservice to Marian.

By playing hard and fast with the rules, and taking the lazy way out and having others do the leg work for him, he slighted her name and her reputation.

The book had no underlying purpose other than to earn money for Gehman and feed the preoccupation with the murder that most Lancastrians held.

It was a sure seller, at least in the relatively local market.

Some purchased the book simply to have a record of the local geographic ties.

Some wanted it because they knew some of the folks involved.

And some were true crime buffs.

If Gehman was going to write "the" book on the Marian Louise Baker murder, he owed it to everyone to do his homework and present the truth in a respectful and professional manner.

He skimmed the surface and published rumor, someone-who-knows-someone-told-me sort of stuff.

He didn't devote himself to the factual research that everyone deserved.

I'm curious to this day what process he used to determine what to include and what to ignore.

Surely, the publishers wanted to make money.

And scandal sells.

When you get down to the very bottom of it, he didn't have to write the book at all.

But being a Lancaster boy, I think, made this seem like an easy write.

The interest in the murder bordered on obsession. There was no question it would sell.

Add to that Gibb's refusal to provide any additional details other than his "impulse" claim and there you have it.

I hold authors to high standards. I trust that when they complete a piece, whether it be a short article or a lengthy novel, it's based on research done with integrity.

The smallest error in their published facts bothers me quite a bit.

If they get the basics wrong, the whole piece now is suspect to me.

Case in point......

Gehman wrote that the O'Donels, who raised Marian had younger daughters.

Completely wrong.

They had a daughter and a son.

That fact is basic and not integral to the facts of the murder.

But it's integral to the story.

What kind of research did Gehman do?

Apparently not much and most of it wasn't done very well.

His name in the publishing field doesn't impress me.

Simply because he had written and been published before affords him no freebies with me.

It shouldn't have with anyone.

But the fact that he cared so little about some of the simple facts taints his work.

To him, Marian's foster siblings weren't important. But they were important to the family, to those who loved Marian.

That error alone tells me all I need to know about Richard Gehman.

He simply didn't care.

It's been rumored and published that he did have a clear problem with alcohol. I have no idea what role that could have played in his publishing of incorrect content.

I can only imagine how Marian's friends and family would have felt, reading or hearing about Gehman's sloppy presentation of the facts surrounding the worst thing that ever happened to them.

It would make some feel as if they were raped and pillaged after Marian endured the bludgeoning by Ed Gibbs.

I have been told that Marian's brother, Ross, had extremely strong feelings about the book.

He saw it as nothing more than a salacious and sleazy attempt to sensationalize the murder and therefore increase the profits.

Gehman dabbled in the lives of all involved. And did it with carelessness and a lack of empathy.

He should have left it alone if he truly didn't care enough to present the truth and accurate facts.

I want to know how long it took him to write the book, from start to finish, including the time it took his friends to do the actual digging and research.

His thanks to them in the book represents more than it seems.

Without their legwork there would have been no book.

Gehman certainly didn't put the time or effort into it to make sure it was a complete and honorable work.

I'm going to go back to 'square one' with the case.

There are far too many errors published and accepted as fact.

And if I'm going to tell the truth about Marian Louise Baker, her life and her death, there is no way she's going to be victimized again. Not by me.

I can't control the facts. They are what they are.

But her story, up to the time of her death, is beautiful!

It's filled with family and love and laughter. Yes, there were hurts and tears. No doubt about that. But how the family handled the painful phases of life with faith, dignity and love is a testament to what this family was and is made of.

To this day, there are those who wish to have the world know the real Marian.

She was shortchanged in the saddest of ways after her death. And it was done for profit, with carelessness.

This family still cares. And this family still loves Marian.

Words are cheap. Actions truly do speak louder than words.

Marian was never forgotten and never minimized by her loved ones.

And to this day, they care that the real girl gets her day.

And I'll do all I can to make sure that happens :)