An Invitation That Is Always Open

I particularly like this picture of Marian. She was at work at F&M, around 1948, Such a horrible tragedy.
I am aware that some of Marian's family that I have not yet met or spoken to are reading here. As you all must know by now, I am approaching this revisit with compassion, respect and a search for the final truth. Contact me as you feel comfortable. As others have learned, I do not betray trust. I hope to hear from you soon. I will continue to pray for Marian and for those who still love her dearly to this day.

Still Pursuing The Portrait/Photograph Of Marian

I am again awaiting information from the curator at F & M regarding the portrait of Marian that hung in East Hall when the Administrative Offices were relocated there. Upon demolition the location of that portrait became a mystery at least to her family and friends.
I always cringe when I think of where it was hanging. East Hall. The married students' housing where Ed Gibbs had lived with his wife, Helen. Where he hid his bloody clothes under the attic floor boards. From where he glanced out of the window, seeing the law enforcement officers eyeing his car. The building he tore out of in a panic, racing to the office where he breathlessly uttered his confession first.
I am still waiting to hear from a commenter who asked me to contact her. I have no contact info for you but would love to speak with you. Hopefully I will hear from you again soon.

Why Revisit This All Now?

I needed to get my notes and my thoughts together for this post.
I've been asked why I feel so compelled to revisit this crime at this late date. The question wasn't a challenge to my efforts, it was a sincere and genuine question asked by someone who truly wanted to gain a glimpse into my motivation for learning all I can about Marian, her life and the crime commited against her so long ago.

I thought the answer would be difficult to explain but it's not.

Why revisit this all now, so many years later?

Because Marian Louise Baker deserves to have the truth told of her character, her person, her morals and her value and worth not only to those that loved her by blood, but also to those who knew her, worked with her, went to school with her and simply spent time in her company.

Marian made an impression on the people she met. Her goodness was apparent.
She had so many good qualities that I am sincerely sorry I never got to meet her.

But the drive behind my efforts are due to the misinformation and fallacious information that was disseminated by the press and by the author, Richard Gehman.

Facts were presented that weren't facts.

The motives behind the fallacies are numerous. I can't alter them now.

But I can make sure I tell the whole story of the person that is Marian Louise Baker.
She was much more than a simple county girl who happened to work as a secretary at Franklin and Marshall.
She touched lives and she was someone to be looked up to.
I need to correct the misinformation and tear down the fallacies in a concrete way.
She deserves to have the truth told. Once and for all.
She needs to be remembered for the good soul she was, not the subject of curiosity by those that love a good scandal.
I simply want to remove the undeserved innuendo and rumor that was intentionally placed on Marian Louise Baker to sell books and newspapers.
I simply want the truth to be known by everyone.

Revisting "A Murder In Paradise"

I started to read "A Murder In Paradise" by Richard Gehman again last night. This has to be the hundredth time, if not more.
For a few months the book has been sitting on an end table in my living room. At no time in my life has it ever been too far away from me. I have no idea why I always keep it so handy and close.
When we moved here, it was packed in a box in the one spare bedroom for several months. When the very familiar pangs started up again, making me need to read it one more time, I remember frantically running up the stairs and heading for the packing boxes, stacked high to the ceiling, in many rows.
I knew instinctively what other items I had packed in the same box with the book, so when I popped the top on the fourth or fifth box and saw my grandmother's linen calendar folded and laying on top of the items, I knew I had the right one!
I also remember my husband telling me to do a search on the internet to see if anyone had an additional copy for sale. My copy is very worn by now. I did find two for sale. The prices were astronomical, at least for my bank account!
Inside the front cover of my copy, I had written my mother's name and address in ink. I clearly was attempting to copy her beautiful, flowing cursive, but failed lol
She had kept the book in a chest of drawers in her room that was reserved for some of her favorite and most cherished jewelry. My Mom was a glamour doll and her jewelry was her signature. That and her beauty mark :) (When she had almost a day's worth of surgery for head/neck cancer she awoke and was angrier at the surgeon removing her beauty mark without permission than she was worried about the surgery; that was my Mom!)
The book was kept in an elevated place in her mind and heart, and the fact that she kept it in the jewelry chest of drawers and not on the bookshelves with her hundreds of other books was quite telling. It has always been revered in our family.
My Mom never spoke much about the murder. She spoke only briefly in my presence of Marian.
But I overheard her a few times over the years speaking of Ed Gibbs. Her tone was strong and it was seething. "He said 'She was hard to kill. She didn't want to die.' " The words slid out of her mouth almost with a slight hiss. Over the years I would come to learn how much my Mom truly did harbor hate for Ed Gibbs. It seemed that if she spoke more of him she'd somehow make him more important in the universe than she wanted him to be.
Marian Louise Baker's photo was in an album at my Grandmother's house for as long as I could remember. I can still see her smile and her side pose in a white outfit. She had dark hair, dark eyes and an easy smile.
I clearly didn't recognize her as a member of our family, at least one that I had ever met, so I asked about the picture. "That's Marian Louise Baker, a friend of Aunt Weenie's." That's all that was said for quite a long time. But for some reason, even as a small girl, I always returned to that picture when looking through the photo albums. To this day I don't know why. It would be years before I knew what had happened to Marian.