Researching Croghan....

I had a few minutes today to work on some ongoing research. I am currently looking into the Croghan aspect of the Marian Louise Baker murder, namely some follow up to Edward Lester Gibbs' wife, Helen Woodward.
Helen resumed her maiden name when she left Lancaster and Ed Gibbs. She tried to turn the clock back to when she was Helen Woodward...before the nightmare of her marriage to Ed.
It seems that Helen married into the Croghan family and had one son. After the death of Mr. Croghan, she remarried later into the Wilson family.
I have the utmost respect for Helen Woodward Croghan Wilson and will not even begin to invade her privacy with contact. However, if she or any other family member would wish to speak with me, I would be more than glad to hear them tell me anything that Helen or the family would like me to know.
I also was contacted a while back, allegedly, by the daughter of the last surviving juror in the Ed Gibbs murder trial. Unfortunately she never left me any contact information with which I could contact her, and she has never used my various emails in which to contact me. If she is still interested in contacting me, I would love to hear from her or her mother.

As always, I can be reached here, via comment or at s.weik@mchsi.com or PAGirlAtTheBeach@aol.com   Thanks.

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.

Marian Baker's Birth Mother, Mrs. Helen B. Soule Baker Britcher

Marion Louise Baker was the child of Walter M. Baker and Helen B. Soule, of Perry County, PA.

She had one older brother, Ross Dalton Baker.

Both children would spend their childhoods with maternal aunts and their families, Ross being legally adopted eventually. Marian couldn't have been any more a daughter to Aunt Allie and Uncle Jack with a piece of paper saying it was so. She was their daughter and they loved her as one of their own. Losing Marian in the way that they did was horrific for the O'Donels, but their faith bolstered them.

I've come to learn that the family from which Marian came is made of very strong stuff. They are a family of love, loyalty and perseverance. And above all else, love for one another.

The story of Marian Louise Baker begins with her roots.

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 :)

Three Trips To The Harnish Cottage and The Hidden Clothing

Ed Gibbs made three distinct trips to the Harnish cottage in West Lampeter Township on January 10, 1950, if he is to be believed. It's already clear that Ed Gibbs lied about much surrounding the events leading up to and including the murder of Marian Louise Baker.
It's difficult to determine if he injected any truth to his statement about his activities after the murder.
His first trip to the cottage was with Marian in his car. He killed her there.
After bludgeoning her to death, he dragged her body down by a garbage dump on the property after having tossed her pocketbook a short distance from where he had killed her. He then got back in his car and drove back to the F & M campus.
He claims he then got undressed, took a shower and returned to his room to get dressed.
He took his coat, sweater and socks and placed them on the backseat of his car and drove back to the Harnish cottage. Gibbs admitted that the coat, sweater and socks were bloody and that is why he wished to dispose of them.
When he got to the Harnish cottage on trip number two, he picked up her purse and left the scene, driving out toward Maple Grove. Behind Maple Grove, the threw the lug wrench, his socks, his sweater and coat as well as Marian's umbrella into the stream. He then got back in his car and returned to the college again.
He picked his wife up at Armstrong Cork Company at the end of her shift .
At 7:30 pm that same night, he took a shovel from the basement of East Hall and drove back out to where Marian's body remained. This would be the third trip to the Harnish cottage.
He claims he took the shovel with him to dig a grave but the many roots prevented him from doing so.
He dragged Marian to the excavation under the cottage, covered her with corrugated tin and a saw horse, scattering leaves around the area and lastly placing the incinerator at the spot where he hid Marian's body.
He then drove to Stump's Service Station and disposed of Marian's rings. He didn't return to the scene of the crime after that he says.
The next day, though, he went back to Maple Grove and grabbed the jacket out of the stream where it was still floating.
On Gibbs' last trip to the cottage the night he killed her, in the dark of night, with a flashlight he purchased on South Prince Street enroute, he removed rings from Marian's fingers but claimed he didn't know why he did so.
After his confession, Gibbs accompanied the police to the attic of East Hall on the F & M campus and showed them where he had hidden his bloody clothes. They found his brown corduroy jacket and his sweater. The socks weren't located at that time. So far, I don't know if they were found later or not.
The complete transcript may tell me that.
The next morning, the authorities were able to locate Marian's purse, the lug wrench and the umbrella, or what was left of it after Gibbs had broken and bent it to make it easier to dispose of.

It strikes me as extremely remarkable that Gibbs not only returned to the murder scene once, but three times.
Three times within less than twenty four hours of killing Marian.

Marian and Nancy Stonesifer had a good laugh when Marian had returned from lunch at the college cafeteria. Marian was rushed, sitting at her desk without removing her coat and realized she had forgotten her umbrella. Much like myself, apparently Marian had quite a habit of losing or forgetting umbrellas! :)
She must have gone back for it. It was with her when Ed Gibbs killed her.
I am now curious as to where Ed Gibbs was when Marian went back for her umbrella.
She took the CTC bus from the corner of College and James Streets. The Sigma Pi house was on James Street. I don't know exactly where. But I wonder if Ed had encountered Marian or spoke briefly with her, knowing that she was headed downtown.
Why did Ed Gibbs tell another student that he had driven Marian downtown that day?
That statement still makes no sense.

My biggest question tonight is this.
Ed Gibbs claimed that he remembered nothing except reaching over to choke Marian, chasing her and continuing to choke her. What he related after that point he claims he had to surmise because he had no memory of it, but came to conclusions based on what he saw when he "came to".
He said that he must have hit her with the lug wrench because of all the blood and the lug wrench in his hand.
He had blood on his jacket, his sweater and his socks. So much blood that he needed to get out of them, get a shower and then dispose of them.
If there is blood flowing to the extent that it greatly covers a jacket, the sweater under the jacket and your socks, how do you NOT get blood all over your trousers or pants?
Not once was Gibbs trousers or pants mentioned.
Again, the official transcript may clear that up. But nowhere, to date, are his trousers even mentioned.
Given that he probably had his shoes on, how much of his socks were exposed? How much was covered by his pant legs?
If Ed Gibbs had trousers on, the blood would have been prevented from soaking his socks by his trouser legs.
Did he scrub his shoes? No mention of them appears anywhere either.
He mentioned that on the second trip to the Harnish cottage, he had taken a towel with him to clean the handle of the inoperative pump on the property. After killing Marian he tried to pump water to wash his bloody hands but was unsuccessful. Worried that his fingerprints could be taken from the handle, he made sure to clean it with the towel.
He never wavered in his story of having choked her, then getting the keys out of the ignition of his car, going to the trunk, grabbing the lug wrench and then "apparently" beating Marian to death.
The autopsy didn't reveal much severe damage to the structures of her throat or trachea.
And if she was at least unconscious from the choking, giving him time to walk to his car, get the keys, go to the trunk, grab the lug wrench, then how did she receive the wounds to the different locations of her head?
The largest wounds weren't in the same anatomical location or region of the skull. One was right frontal, the other left parietal. The left parietal wound extended into and through the ear canal. The force used was monstrous.
She wasn't unconscious enough to be rendered immobile. And he certainly didn't have the opportunity to just saunter to the car for the keys and the lug wrench. Marian wasn't immobilized when he struck her with the lug wrench. Her wounds tell that clearly and unequivocally. In a murderous rage, the killer doesn't lay the weapon down, turn the victim's head to the side and then resume the beating.
Marian sustained other injuries. I will confirm that when I view the photos from the crime scene and the autopsy.
I in no way wish to upset her loved ones with my frank discussion of the physicality of the attack. It is just extremely important to finally understand what Ed Gibbs really did to Marian that day. He lied throughout the trial, even to his own attorney.
The quotes attributed to Hense Brown are confusing. He was sure Ed wasn't telling the whole story.
Clearly. Brown saw the photos and read the report. He KNEW Ed wasn't telling the whole story.
Several people knew that to be a fact. Brown had caught him in several lies.
How and why that was never entered into the court proceedings is an issue unto itself. We'll cover that later.
It is vital to understanding how very innocent Marian Baker was in the progression of events that day.
The lies started when Ed Gibbs offered her a ride. And he stuck to his lies to the bitter end.
He took her life, he helped take a bit of her reputation and he took the truth with him.
Marian deserves that the truth be told, finally.
I can't help but feel that the timing here is significant.
There is a time for everything. And perhaps there were factors in place, people still loving and missing Marian so over the past sixty years that it just wasn't the time for the truth to be told just yet, in the way that it needs to be told. I'm sure no one who ever knew her or loved her wanted the lies and innuendoes to go on; it just hurt so much to delve into it again.
Marian deserves the truth. And she deserves to have the respect that she was shown when she was alive.
Those who really knew her, loved her, worked with her and spent any time with her knew the real Marian.
She was meticulous, witty, funny, caring and a lady.
Those who knew her knew the truth.
It's sad that because of what was done to her, in the societal time in which it occurred, she was presented in a questionable light. And the pain and frustration of having to live with those undeserved rumors and a sullied reputation has to come to an end. And the truth will do that. It will finally show everyone, especially those who never had the privilege or honor of knowing her, just what Marian Baker was made of.
Marian was "good stuff". She still is :)

Meeting A Friend of A Friend.......of Ed Gibbs and Marian Baker

God Bless the world wide web.
Seriously.
Without it I wouldn't be planning a trip back to Lancaster to meet a new but uncannily close friend.
Without going into the details, he and I came to learn about each other through research I've been doing off and on for the past year or so.
Somehow and for some odd reason, we've developed a friendship that intrigues the both of us, I believe.
I asked for his help on a "project" pulling together loose ends from my research, and he responded wholeheartedly.
Since that time, a second project, my revisiting the Marian Baker murder, caught his attention as well. And out of the blue, he contacted me to let me know he has a friend...who was a good friend of Edward Lester Gibbs.
He also knows someone who can tell me about Marian Baker.
Wow.
I can't wait to meet him.
I think we have much in common.
He's a parent and it's clear he loves his kids, and kids in general. His family has had a very successful and prominent role in the history of Lancaster.
He's a family man, very well known, and philanthropic in his activities.
I promised to loan him a book that he's had problems locating.
There must be a tie between us. I have never, ever considered allowing "that book" out of my possession in forty years :)
Marian Baker was murdered in 1950. So many years have passed.
Any yet, in September of 2009, I have been contacted by people from several states who have information to share with me. They have told me what they know, what they remember, where they have been and what they believe led to the brutal murder.
Some are torn between wanting to share and also wanting me to enjoy the full thrill of the chase.
They give me tips or clues and gently push me in directions I need to go.
I am so grateful to have been contacted by all of them.
I so appreciate the suggestions and tips they've offered to me. They've been down this road before and shared with me some very valuable advice that will open certain doors for me.
Now, I just need some 72 hour days, the ability to teleport to various states and locations and I'll have it made! lol
I'm still "on it". I just have been so preoccupied with classes and homework and work in general that my time has been limited. I'm still searching for that organizational balance I need to get it all done. That goal post is a bit fuzzy :)

Word's Out.......

Well word is apparently "out" about my interest in the Marian Baker murder and the trial and execution of Ed Gibbs. Took long enough lol I've only been dealing with this for the past forty years :) Not quite that long as far as serious research is concerned though.
I've been contacted by a few folks who either knew or know a contact or friend of Ed Gibbs. I'd love to get a personal slant from someone who knew him prior to the attack and killing.
My research into the whereabouts and situation with Helen Woodward Gibbs isn't quite as fruitful.
The wall of protection is still intact but I mean her no harm and no disrespect.
I hadn't checked my stat tracker for a while but it was a very interesting read last night.
The interest in the Marian Baker murder stretches rather far and wide.
Thank you to all who have emailed me with your thoughts and/or information. As always, I will never, ever reveal anything about you unless you direct me to.
Your privacy is safe with me. That goes without saying.
I appreciate your help more than you will ever know :)
More on all of this later tonight :)

The Trail Starts Here

Hi all!
It's been a damp, rainy and very windy few days here and we've got some coastal flooding to deal with. I had to reschedule some clients yesterday.... I don't travel with my boat, so getting to their waterfront homes wasn't an option lol
I spent the day in class...what a nice change! Being in a classroom, being instructed and inspired by a professor is one of the places where I am most comfortable :) I loved school. My passion for learning really bloomed in Middle School. And I'm not done yet.
I have my BA in Psych/Spanish, my ADN in Professional Registered Nursing and have unfinished terms in Law. Taxes and Finance/Accounting will round out the list.
My current job/business keeps me mobile most of the day. I did worry about how I'd like being "cooped up" for an entire day with the Saturday classes but I worried over nothing :)
Today was wonderful. I'm already looking forward to next week.
And I have homework! LOL Quite a bit, to be honest. But I really am excited about being back in the learning milieu!
Okay, enough of the "station break"........

This past week I've had thoughts of the Marian Baker murder running silently through the back of my mind as I would go about my day. Almost like 'auto-pilot', the thoughts, scenarios and questions just keep coming.
I've allowed all sorts of scenarios to play out. No angle can be discounted until it's checked out and can be disgarded.
I have no idea what my desired result or goal really is right now.
Of course I'd love to have THE REASON, without question or conjecture as to why Marian Baker was bludgeoned to death on that miserable January afternoon in 1950. But Ed Gibbs is dead. And he refused to elaborate even to his defense attorney.
He was filled with anxiety and shame at his sure knowledge that he was not going to graduate as planned. He broached the subject over the Christmas holiday and his Mother became almost hysterical at the thought of him not graduating. Her reaction made him pretend, to her, that he was just joking. That he was surely going to graduate.
Shame was a button with Ed Gibbs.
The murder of Marian Baker would have been the ultimate shame for any of us to admit to.
It would have been enough for any normal or near normal person.
But not for Ed Gibbs.
There is or was something more shameful in his eyes than admitting the brutal and heinouse killing of Marian Baker. So he stuck to his story of killing her on "impulse".
Was it something as simple as Ed making an untoward pass at Marian and she rebuked him, threatening to tell his wife and filing a report with the college?
Or was it more?
What did Ed know that he willingly and steadfastly refused to open up about, even if it could have helped his defense?
Did he really believe that he would be given the death penalty?
Or did he think he'd spend his life in prison, concealing the real and true facts of what went on that day?
Some of the questions that I will pose here and to myself may bother some folks.
It's natural to hate Ed Gibbs, the convicted killer. To say anything nice about him may bother some.
It's natural to hold Marian in high regard. She was a beautiful, kind and unassuming girl from Conestoga. One who people thought the world of. Having to look into the claims that she was indeed a "party girl" almost seems dirty or close to running the risk of sullying her memory.
That is not the intent.
I plan to just let the research lead where it may. I knew neither of them.
I have no judgement of anyone involved.
I know what I learned from my family, the news accounts, the book and others who have been interested in the crime for many years.
I will be posing a few "what if's".... Please do not take offense. There is none intended.
I will be looking at the big picture, from scratch. No question will be excluded.
I welcome any and all additional contact and emails as I have for the past several months.
You know, it's funny. A few years ago when I resumed my research into this case, I did an internet search using the names of most of the people involved. I found nothing. There was nothing online to be found.
That isn't the case today.
But the real facts aren't online. And they aren't in books or newspapers. They live in the minds and memories of those that still remain.
I hope to meet as many of them as I can and share my respect and interest with them.
I don't want anyone to forget Marian. And in an odd way, I don't want anyone to forget Ed either.

The Questions Keep Popping Up!

I haven't had much time lately to really let my mind wander about the events leading up to the murder of Marian Louise Baker, but today, during a very long drive from far on the Eastern Shore back up to Dewey Beach I did a bit of thinking again....
I still am stuck on WHY Marian would get in a car with a man she verbally claimed "made her sick".
I keep going back to the testimony of Mrs. Nancy Stonesifer, her coworker in the Cashier's Office at F & M. She testified that Marian had returned from lunch, never even removed her coat as she sat down briefly at her desk, and commented that she wished she didn't have to go to the bank since she was suddenly swamped with work. She said she was worried that she wouldn't make her hair appointment, which was scheduled for late afternoon, around the supper hour.
Now WHY would Marian suddenly be so relaxed and have so much free time that she would agree to go for a ride with Ed Gibbs so far out of the way of the college?
Ed Gibbs testified that when he finally stopped the car near the Harnish cottage, the last thing Marian said to him, immediately before he reached over and started to strangle her, was the
"scenery looked pretty". None of this makes one lick of sense. Not one bit.
I can't explain it, but there is FAR more to the story than we have been told. And I aim to find out what it is.
I guess I'm back on the case! :)

Back At The Keyboard!

Hi all! It's been a great week and I've finally got enough done around here to feel as if I can take some time to come back to the blogs!
I made a list tonight of all the daytrips or longer roadtrips I want to make related to the Marian Baker murder.
My son asked me a few days ago why I feel the need to go to the areas or sites related to the case and I had to be honest with him.
I think first of all I truly believe I will come away from it all with a sense of what happened. I have no idea if what I'll come away with will be in keeping with the accepted facts and story, or if I will come away with an even greater sense of covert reasons behind the attack and murder south of Lancaster in 1950.
I hope to create a real timeline, as complete as I can make it for Marian Baker and Ed Gibbs both.
It would be even better to be able to document it all photographically. That may be quite difficult with the chance that previous homes no longer exist, new homes being built on the murder site itself, etc.
Another reason that I feel compelled to do this is to simply make sure that as time goes on, there are some folks who remember Marian Baker. And to some extent, Ed Gibbs too.
They were two young people whose paths crossed and ended up in tragedy for both of them.
Two lives unlived.
When the jury returned with the verdict and sentence of death, even the Judge was stunned.
He did his best to hide it, but he was caught off guard.
When he discharged the jury, he never even thanked them for their service. I think that was in part to his being stunned but also to his shock that the death penalty was handed down.
He presided over the trial in its entirety. He didn't see the death penalty coming.
The horrific tragedy was compounded by the death sentence. The sadness was permeating even further and was so much more widespread.
There is and was some compassion for Ed Gibbs and that has to be acknowledged and accepted as well. Normal people don't bludgeon young girls to death.
And Ed wasn't a monster. He was a tormented and overstressed young man. There were many, many blocks in the road that led him to the wooded area south of Lancaster that cold January day.
And that's IF he did it.
I'm not totally convinced just yet.
I sincerely hope to come away from my own form of revisiting it all with a sense of his guilt or his innocence. That may be too much to hope for.
So, I'm making my plans and trying to do it in a cohesive manner. And once I make the trips, one at a time, I'll document it all here and post all the pics I take.
I just wish I would have been pushier about it all when most of the people "in the know" were still alive. This is going to be extremely hard with them gone. But I love a challenge.

I guess my fascination with what really happened to Marian Baker is very similar to my and others questions as to what really happened in the Roseboro back yard in July of 2008.
We know what happened to Jan. But we don't know how it happened or truly why.
Did Mike snap? Or did he really plan it? Where did the blood go? What caused the puncture wound to Jan's head?
Unless Mike confesses or someone steps forward, we may never know.
Or fifty or sixty years from now, someone may be sitting at a computer, blogging about how the case grabbed a hold of them and how they need to make a road trip to get a sense of what really happened that warm, rainy July night in 2008.....

I Feel As If I've Been Playing Hooky!

Hey all, I feel as if I've been playing hooky lol Of course my blogging isn't my job, nor is it my career, yet! but I am acutely aware that I haven't been hitting the keyboard as much as usual the last few days.
Here's the latest from this end!
I had a few reschedules for this week and it gave me a much welcome chance to spend a good amount of time at home to tackle some much overdue projects!
I'm of the school, " a cluttered house = a cluttered mind". I will never ever be accused of having too little "stuff" or living a barren and simplistic style....
I am very attached to most of my belongings in sentimental ways, but it's time to declutter and get ready for the change in the seasons. I think it's my own form of nesting.
I rearrange furniture. I purge "junk drawers". I like to clean out and declutter right before the change of each season. I just didn't expect it to hit this weekend LOL
So, starting Sunday, I've been working harder at home than I sometimes do on the job. And I love it! It's such a great feeling to look around and see so much accomplished!
There are times when I intentionally schedule "down time" for myself. Those days could include a movie, a day at the beach, a really good book, cooking something I've never made before, online canasta.....But I guess it's my Lancaster County heritage and work ethic that make me "allow" myself an entire day off.
I've been setting things aside for Freecycle, an anticipated yard sale in the Fall, and for Ebay and Craigslist. My to do list is still pages long, but I'm a pretty happy camper tonite :)
And I will get started at the crack of dawn (maybe!) again tomorrow. I am off tomorrow and have tons more to do.
One thing I love about working this hard is how well you sleep afterwards.
I haven't had a Five Hour Energy Shot in days....but I also haven't had one gram of sugar either.
I've learned to read my body and too much sugar really makes me tired and sluggish. So last Tuesday I decided to eliminate it, again.
I've done it lots of times before and sooner or later I cave to an offer of cake or some special recipe someone has made. I know that I would offend them if I decline....you know the rest of the story.
I really don't want to get into the no or low carbohydrate debate with anyone; it gets tedious. And I can only speak for myself and how my system reacts.
But I lived almost zero carbs for three years. My doctor wasn't familiar with Stillman or Atkins and when he saw my lab work he was exuberant.
He told me "whatever it is that you're doing, keep it up!"
Well, an Easter basket from a dear old woman who stood there waiting for me to sample the candy she had so lovingly arranged in that basket, ended the no carb run for three years lol
I had a walking routine also. Six miles a day. Three in the am and three at night. My pace? About 4-4.5 miles an hour. I walk as fast as I can without having to bust out in a sprint.
I'd walk half of it away from home, the other half back....one old farmer, who had watched me for almost a year, finally stopped one day and leaned out the window and smiled at me..."Hey hon, if you'd just keep going in ONE direction, you'd get somewhere!" He laughed and I laughed LOLOL
The humidity finally made me take a break from the walking, but I'm anxious to resume it.
In the meantime, the dreaded treadmill will have to do.
I love walking outdoors, ear buds in place, high energy music blaring in my ears. I do some of my best thinking that way. And not always on purpose.
I remember my daughter going for several jaunts with me a few years back. We watched the progression of the comet in the night sky. That was alot of fun.
So anyway...I'm sugar free, have tons of energy and thankfully the time now to get much done here at home. The weekend and next week will be a different story.
And I start Saturday classes on September 12th.
I think this Fall will be the time of big changes for me.
I'm relearning to think out of the box, and I like it.
I have always looked at life as an adventure, even unintentionally. And I'm looking at it that way again.
So I am back to blogging.
I need to get my notes and thoughts together about several things. The Marian Baker murder in particular.
The trip to Pitman is on hold only because I wanted to get my stuff and my mind in order lol And I think cooler temperatures will make the trip that much more enjoyable. I have heard that New Jersey can be so beautiful in the Fall.
I did find a condensed death notice for Edward Lester Gibb's mother, Florence L. Gibbs.
I'll copy it here and on the Murder in Lancaster County blog. She lived to be 89 years old. She passed away in July of 1993.
I wondered how she lived out her days after her son was electrocuted. Her husband passed years ahead of her. What a tragic thing for any mother to endure. No matter what he did, he was still their son and they loved him completely. As in the Roseboro murder, there were no winners in the Marian Baker murder or Ed Gibb's trial and conviction. His death by electrocution ripped his parents' hearts out. And that is so so sad.

FLORENCE L. GIBBS, 89, of Pitman, died Tuesday at Kennedy Memorial Hospitals/Washington Township Divison.

Mrs. Gibbs attended the First Baptist Church of Woodbury and was a member of the Followers Prayer Group of Gloucester County and the Christian Women's Club of Gloucester County.

Survivors: two nephews.

Services: viewing, 10 a.m. Saturday, Harold E. Haines Funeral Home, 30 W. Holly Ave., Pitman; funeral, 11 a.m. Saturday at the funeral home; burial, Hillcrest Memorial Park, Hurffville.

Note: Harold E. Haines purchased the S. E. Burkett Funeral Home on Holly Avenue. Burkett was the funeral director that handled the preparation and services for Ed Gibbs, her son, after his electrocution in Pennsylvania.

Why?

On Tuesday, January 1oth of 1950, Marian Louise Baker returned to the Cashier's Office from her lunch break in the college cafeteria. She never removed her coat as she sat down at her desk, complaining that she was now so backed up with work that she wished she didn't have to go to the bank. Making college deposits at the bank was a daily part of Marian's job duties. She grabbed her things, a letter to be mailed from Mrs. Stonesifer and her purse and headed to the corner of James and College Avenues to catch the CTC bus to Penn Square. She had returned to the office, from lunch at 1:30 pm.
She was worried that she would be late for or miss her appointment for a permanent wave scheduled for 5:00 or 5:30 that afternoon.
She also needed to pick up her engagment ring from Kay Jewelers, off of Penn Square.
Marian arrived at Penn Square. She picked up her ring, made the bank deposit and then went to the post office.
She hadn't wanted to make this run downtown because she was so backed up with work....
And yet, we are to believe that as she ran her errands, she ran into Ed Gibbs, whose incessant chatter about himself made her sick, and accepted a ride with him supposedly heading back to the college. That part I even have trouble with. He made her sick. That's a pretty strong statement. I can't imagine she wanted to listen to him chatter on the whole way back to campus.
But this is the bigger question for me....
As busy and backed up as she was at 1:30 pm, already worried about not making her hair appointment, when Ed Gibbs pulled up to the light at Prince Street, and he asked Marian if she was in a hurry to get back to the college campus, she said "No." She said NO?????
Ed made a left and they travelled down South Prince Street, clearly away from the direction of the college. It was a cold, gray January day. Not exactly the day for sightseeing. Or nature watching.
Why would Marian have gotten in the car with Ed in the first place if he made her sick?
And if she did get in the car, why was there no fuss about him taking her south of the city when she clearly was flustered about being so busy already in the afternoon?
When that car left the highway and started back the lane to where the cottage was located, why was there no problem, no fight?
He was married, she was engaged. It was the middle of the afternoon of a work day in 1950.
Something is very wrong here.
And why THAT lane? Why THAT property?
How did Ed Gibbs know of that area? Had he been there before?
Did Marian really get a ride from Gibbs?
What happened to her being so busy?
What was being said in the car as he shoved it into "park"?
He said he reached over and choked her with no provocation. He did it on impulse.
She screamed and got out of the car, trying to get away.
He grabbed the lug wrench and went after her.
If he snapped, why wasn't she obliterated?
If he simply wanted her dead, why the wounds on the frontal AND posterior surfaces of her skull? How did the attack happen? Either blow would have rendered her completely unconscious as bone was driven into the brain.
And then we are to believe that Gibbs came back later to try to bury her?
I have alot of work to do.
I need to check records and get myself up to the Historical Society.
I need to read the entire court transcript and see any surviving files from the investigation.
Was the inside of the cottage checked? What about Gibb's car? Was it examined inside?
Somethings aren't making any sense at all....

The String Art That Is My Mind About This...

Of course, rereading the book has started my mind heading down some familiar roads, but this time there is a difference. I've come up with some thoughts and questions that I never have before.
Shortly after I woke up, showered and got ready for work, I took a few minutes to pull out the copies, from microfiche, of the Lancaster newspapers coverage of Marian's disappearance, the discovery of her mutilated body at the Harnish cottage, the confession, the trial and conviction and ending with Ed Gibb's execution in the electric chair.
I clearly remember the day I made those copies. I sat in the library on Duke Street for hours, reading and scanning the microfiche. I scanned so quickly that the motion of the reader made me dizzy and so nauseated I really thought I was going to be sick.
My husband was with me that day. We weren't married yet, so that tells you how long ago that day was. He had to drive home, I was fit for a bucket.
We were parked on the very top level of the parking garage, the Prince Street one, I think, I'm not exactly sure. I always park on the very top. I love looking out over the city every time. That view never gets old for me.
I remember telling my "boyfriend" to keep me away from the outer wall. There would be no gazing out over the Red Rose City that day for sure.
My copies of the articles are pretty worn. They are at least 30 years old!
Like my copy of "A Murder In Paradise", I always know where that stack of shiny black and white paper is.
I keep it in a special legal brief carrier.
It took me all of two minutes to find it this morning after I poured my first cup of coffee.
I read what I could still make out, and I found a few things that either I never noticed before or skipped over. Some are small details. Some directly contradict the book.
The photos of Marian and her Conestoga family, the aunt and uncle that raised her are very difficult to discern after all these years. There is one photo in which her brother Ross Dalton Baker Smith is standing next to the O'Donels. There is a photo of Marian, smiling broadly, with Edgar Rankin, her fiance, holding her from behind.
There are even photos of the jurors in a group around a table. Their names were published easily and it was said later that those people paid a very high price for their service on the Gibbs jury.
Some tormented them badly for their verdict.
There is also a wide aerial shot of then Route 222 and the land surrounding the Media Heights Golf Course, Mill Creek and the Harnish cottage.
From the time I started working in the area of Lancaster and south, I never drove that general route without looking to my left and wondering if I could find the spot where Ed attacked her.
As a small child, I remember being at a school friend's house on a lane in that area. I think I even wondered then. I'm forty nine years old and I can remember going up the wooded lane to Jack's house, and feeling rather serious for no apparent reason.
I was usually working second shift when I headed toward Willow Street and there was no time to head off on a search through the woods. I wonder now how built up that area is.
I viewed it on Google Earth and there is still Exhibit Farm Road. And a house appears. I don't know it to be a fact but I've wondered if that is the tenant house on the Harnish property from where the Harnish's called the police when they found Marian's body under the corrugated metal behind the cottage.
There are some coincidences that occurred to me today.
Marian lived right down the road from my Mom's childhood home, the home of my Nanny Kelley.
Once I had learned about her, there wasn't a day went by that I didn't look for her house as we drove to and from Nanny's house in Conestoga.
The Harnish's lived in the three hundred block of West Walnut Street in Lancaster and owned the property by Mill Creek. My family lived five houses west of them when my parents purchased the townhouse near the corner of Walnut and Mulberry.
Ed Gibb's wife worked with my Mom at Armstrong Cork Company, later Armstrong World Industries.
Marian was a good friend of my maternal aunt and my Mom.
It was only today that I realized that the Harnish's lived right down the street frpm our house.

In going back over the details as presented in the book and in the Lancaster Newspaper articles, I've started to form a mixed up list of questions in my mind. Tomorrow they will be comitted to paper.
I regret, more than I can say, that I never questioned anyone in my family about that tragedy.
I am sorry I never met Marian's brother Ross Dalton Baker Smith.
I am sorry I never met the O'Donels who cared for her and loved her as if she were their own. She was their own.

My Mom's best friend was a legal secretary for most of her life. Her years on Lawyer's Row, on Duke Street gave her a first hand glimpse at some of the most fascinating cases in Lancaster.
When the final opinion was handed down in the Lisa Michelle Lambert case, by Judge Lawrence Stengel, my Aunt Jean, as we called her, sent me the entire opinion :)
I pored over every word. I should mention that in my senior year of my undergrad studies I did interview for law school. Lawyers and judges are rock stars to me.
I am one of the weirdos that doesn't hate jury duty. When I enter a courthouse, I keep my voice to a whisper, lower my head a bit and show reverence. That's just me :)
I wish I would have spoken to her about the Baker murder and the Gibbs trial. She knew things. She heard plenty. But in all the years I was old enough to comprehend anything, I never once heard her reveal anything out of confidence in any area or in any way.
I can remember, though, her talking about Gibb's defense attorney, Hense Brown, long after the trial was a memory. She said that it was common knowledge that "Hense was NEVER the same." That was reiterated in the book.
He took his unease and frustration of the Gibbs trial with him to his grave.
He never stopped believing that if he just would have more time, he might have gotten Gibbs to tell the whole truth about what happened that cold January Tuesday in 1950.
There WAS more to the story. There IS more to the story.
And I'm not getting any younger here. If I don't give this my best shot now, I never will.

I looked back over my notes that I've written about the murder and the case for years. The one note card is dated from my middle school years.
I'm going to be updating those cards. Adding comments and questions in an effort to try to map out where I should go from here.
I have questions now that I didn't have back then.
I'm wondering about events and decisions from a much older, mature and worldwise stance now.
I'll be posting my progress and my thoughts here as I go.
I'll try to NOT present it haphazardly as string art. But there's always that risk.
When I start to write, it just goes where it goes. It's freeform and it leads to other thoughts and other questions, other memories.
This won't always be a cohesive work of literary research, you can count on that!
It will be my journey to try to find out just what really did happen to Marian Louise Baker in 1950.
My first question today was...
Marian was quoted as having said that Gibbs incessant chatter about himself made her sick.
Why did she get in the car with him after she left the post office?
Why was it okay with her to take a drive south instead of heading back to campus?
If she truly didn't like Gibbs, and this was in 1950, other rules of propriety applied then, why did she allow him to drive her south out of the city, back a wooded lane, when she was wearing Ed Rankin's engagement ring?
Do not assume I'm thinking that Marian was promiscuous. Not for a second.
But I am going somewhere with this. I just don't exactly where just yet.

I do need more information. I need records and data.
One piece of information I do need is a list of all the courses that Gibbs took while at Franklin and Marshall College. I need to see each and every class he registered for. Even those that he eventually dropped or failed.
And I need to see which professors were actually standing in front of students on that Tuesday afternoon. I need to see which professors could be accounted for that day. And which ones may have been off campus with no one to stand as their alibi.
I also will be visiting the Lancaster County Historical Society soon. They have the files, the evidence that remains, the collection that was the Baker murder and the Gibbs trial.
Richard Gehman, the author of the book, stated at the end that he hoped the reason for writing the book was in the pages. He really didn't know he was compelled to write the book.
I think he knew exactly why he was writing the book. And I believe there are vague clues in those pages.
Gehman told the story as it happened, as it was reported and accepted.
But I think he knew more. I think he knew alot more.
And I believe he was hoping that someday, someone was going to read certain lines and phrases in his book and cock their head just a tad to the side and say..."Hmm...I wonder...." .
Well Mr. Gehman, I hope you're watching. My head is a tad to the side. And I'm more than wondering.

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.

The Marian Louise Baker Murder: A Photo and The Final Resting Place

This is a capture from The Bedford Era including a brief article and one of the few photos of Marian Louise Baker. I have others included in copies of microfiche from the Lancaster Public Library but the copies are too old to scan. Look on the lower right for the article and picture.

As I posted previously, Marian is buried next to her aunt and uncle, Alice and Leroy ODonel in Perry County, PA. The couple, from Conestoga raised her as their own.

The Marian Baker Murder

My research into Pitman, New Jersey, the hometown of killer Edward Lester Gibbs, led me to these photos and postcards. I posted them randomly.
I have been to Pitman once and plan to return. I want to get current photos of these locations and take some shots of the home where he grew up, the cemetery where he is buried.
In the meantime, this is what I have of the life history in visual form, of Edward Lester Gibbs.

This is where Ed graduated from high school prior to entering the service and then attending college at F&M in Lancaster, PA.

This is not the church where Edward Lester Gibbs married his bride, Helen. That poor woman had no idea what she had signed on for. Ed also reportedly worked for a while at the Esso Station that appears on the card.

The wedding reception the new Mr. and Mrs. Edward Lester Gibbs was held here at the Hotel Pitman. Nothing but the best for their son, some residents of the town felt that perhaps the Country Club would have been more fitting.

Another view of the Hotel Pitman.

I'll update with more photos as I get them, and also clearly lay out the timeline of Ed Gibbs life as it led him to the cold January afternoon where he beat the life out of Marian Louise Baker.

Marian Baker's Brother: He Never Forgot Her

---

ROSS DALTON BAKER SMITH, son of the late Walter and Helen B. Soule Baker (Britcher) and adopted son of the late Curtis A. and Mary W. Soule Smith, died Monday, July 14, 2008 in the Perry Village Nursing Home, New Bloomfield. He was 82.

Mr. Smith is survived by his wife of 61 years, Madalene I. Wohletz of New Bloomfield; 2 daughters: Karen G. Diller of Lancaster and Anne M. Warfel of Bloomsburg. Also surviving are three grandchildren, George J. Kern and wife Stephanie of Flower Mound, TX, James D. Warfel and wife Yvonne of Berwick, and Marian L. Schlauch and husband Curtis of Odessa, TX; 2 half-brothers, Earl Britcher of Carlisle, John B. Britcher and a half-sister, Arlene M. Whisler of New Bloomfield. Also surviving are 8 great-grandchildren: Kobe, Tre’ and Aubrie Kern; Leslie and Britney Warfel; Britt, Dalton and Chesley Schlauch.

He was preceded in death by a sister, Marian Louise Baker.

Mr. Smith was born November 26, 1925 in New Bloomfield, where he attended the local schools. He was a graduate of New Bloomfield High School and Thompson Business College. He was a veteran of WWII, having served on the USS Lexington in the Pacific Theatre. He was awarded several medals and battle stars. Following his Naval duty, he was employed as the Sr. Correspondent for the State Workmen’s Compensation Board and later worked as a material and supply clerk at the US Naval Supply Depot in Mechanicsburg before becoming affiliated with PA Power and Light Company, at Safe Harbor, Lancaster County in the Clerical field. He later transferred to the Montour Steam Electric Station where he served as Chief Clerk for a five year period and completed his employment with PP&L Co., as Store Supervisor at Sunbury Steam Electric Station.

Mr. Smith was a member of Perry Historians, PA and World Wildlife Associations, Audubon Society, American Land Preservation Program, and United Seniors Association and the Heritage Foundation. Mr. Smith served as Republican Committeeman for several years in Conestoga Twp., Lancaster County, also served as Secretary and driver for the Conestoga Ambulance Association. He was Asst. P.T.A President at Creswell Elementary School and later President of the P.T.A. of the elementary school in Conestoga. He was a former member of the Conestoga Lions Club and secretary of the Bethel Evangelical Church Official Board as well as Assistant Superintendent. After moving to Perry county, Mr. Smith along with his wife were attendees of the East Newport First Church of God. Mr. Smith was recipient of the “Man of the Year” award in 1970 from the Conestoga Jaycees. A lover of writing, his first book, “Bitter Sweet the Days” was published in 1972.

Funeral services will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Friday, July 18, 2008 in the Boyer Funeral Home, 101 W. Main Street, New Bloomfield, PA, where a viewing will be held one hour prior to the service. Burial will be in the Snyder’s Church Cemetery, where full military honors will be rendered by New Bloomfield VFW Post #7463, and Newport American Legion Post #177. Pastor Cheryl Dorman, of East Newport First Church of God, will be officiating.

Memorial contributions may be made to the American Cancer Society, Capital Region, 3211 N. Front Street, Suite 100, Harrisburg, PA 17110; or the Capital Region American Heart Association, 4999 Louise Drive, Suite 104, Mechanicsburg, PA, 17055, or American Diabetes Association, 3544 North Progress Avenue, Suite 101, Harrisburg, PA, 17110.

Note: Ross was raised by his maternal aunt Mary, sister of his mother Helen B. Soules Baker Britcher. He was formally adopted. Marian was raised by another maternal aunt, Alice B. Soules Odonel, in Conestoga, PA.

Their natural mother, Mrs. Helen B. Britcher survived Marian and is buried next to her husband, not with Marian, who rests next to the O'Donels.

Where Edward Lester and Helen Gibbs Lived In Lancaster, PA

This is a photo of East Hall Dormitory, where Ed and Helen Gibbs lived on the F & M campus at the time of Marian Louise Baker's murder. In 1946 this building had been converted into an Infirmary and many one room apartments for married students. Those rooms were sparsely furnished and rather drab and dreary. Given the events that were swirling around Ed Gibbs at that time, his home surroundings surely didn't help.
This is also where he hid items from the crime, the attic being a handy space to use.

Remembering Marian Louise Baker

Next month, on the 10th of April, will be Marian Louise Baker's birthday. Had she not been brutally murdered south of Lancaster in the cold January air of 1950, she would be 81 years old this year.

Her brother, Ross Dalton Smith Baker, passed away in the summer of 2008. He spent most of his life without his sister to share in the memories.

Marian is buried next to her aunt and uncle, the O'Donels, in Perry County, Pennsylvania. It is so fitting that she should rest there, rather than beside her natural mother and step-father. Her aunt, Alice Soules O'Donel and her husband Leroy, raised and loved Marian as their own. Their grief draped over them the rest of their lives. For Marian's mother, Mrs. Bruce Britcher...not so much. She barely made it to Marian's funeral on time.

Marian and her brother had been given to relatives to raise at a very young age.

Ross was fortunate to have been raised by another sister of his mothers and lived a life of service and duty. He grew to be a fine man, loved and admired in the community.

Marian had hopes and dreams of becoming Mrs. Ed Rankin and raising a family of her own.

But those dreams ended with a cold iron lug wrench beating the lifeblood out of her not far from Willow Street on the afternoon of January 10, 1950.

Marian was employed as a cashier at F & M College and was running errands on the afternoon of her death. She accepted a ride from a student of the college, who she knew marginally.

Why she accepted the ride continues to baffle me. She had made her feelings about Edward Lester Gibbs clear in the past. He annoyed her and she was not fond of him.

Perhaps she was just glad for the ride. Maybe she thought it would be a faster way to return to the college.

I have tried to imagine what thoughts were running through her mind as they crossed the "Singing Bridge" at Engleside, already very far in the wrong direction from where she planned to go. Perhaps she was being polite at that point, not wanting to insult or offend Ed. But by the time they had crossed the bridge, did she start to feel any fear or apprehension?

Ed Gibbs testimony and relating of facts as to that day cannot be depended upon to be truthful in their entirety. So we continue to wonder.

Did Marian start to argue with him? Demand to be taken back to the school?

I find it very hard to believe that she was relaxed and calm, that far out of the way, with a student she disliked so. Did she begin to wonder what his true plans were?

Clearly when they turned left off of the highway and went back into the wooded area, things had to have started to seem a bit worrisome to her.

Marian Louise Baker was a friend of our family. She died many years before I was born, but my Mom and my aunt and grandmother knew her well. Her home, with the O'Donels was a short distance down the road from their house. Her picture was in their photo album.

At no time has anyone ever allowed for the possibility that Marian would have allowed any advances, no matter how slight, from Ed Gibbs. Nor would she have flirted with him for attention.

She was in love with Edgar Rankin. And planned to be his bride.

Edward Lester Gibbs killed those plans. He altered lives that could never be repaired.

Ed, himself, met death as a result of that afternoon. He died in the electric chair.

His wife, Helen, returned to New Jersey and was never publicly heard from again. She never attended the trial or issued a statement.

What really happened in that car on January 10, 1950? What really happened at the Mylin cottage near Willow Street?

And why did Ed Gibbs go to his death without telling the whole story? What on earth was there left to lose?

I'm working on those questions and several more.

Murder In Lancaster County: The Very Beginning

This is where you'll learn about a journey that has taken 49 years thus far to trek...and it's far from over. To honor those that lost their lives to the selfishness of others, to call to task those that bashed the life out of innocent victims...this is why I will write this tale of a murder that took place in 1950...how it will forever be linked to another horrendous bloody murder that took place in small town America in the summer of 2008...both in the idyllic setting and rolling hills of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The land of shoo-fly pies and horse and buggies, the Green Dragon and the tractor pulls at The Buck .... smiling Amish children licking the melting ice cream off of their suntanned fingers...the large, shiny SUV's circling in front of the expansive abodes on Country Club Lane...among these vastly different segments of "the County" two young women lost their lives. One met her death at the hands of a college student, in a never explained rage..the other, a smiling young mother, beaten so severely by her new inground pool in her family backyard, so viciously that the killer would never have had to toss her limp body into the water to finish the evil deed.
Marian Louise Baker and Jan Roseboro are both in the ground. They lie under headstones that can never tell their stories.
One killed by a man she knew little about. The other killed by a husband of nineteen years. Also a man that poor woman apparently, in the end, knew very little about.