Mable Osa BAIRD was born November 3, 1878 in Jacksonville, Adam County, Ohio, and died January 11, 1912, age 93. She was the daughter of Henry Clay and Sarah “Sadie” Thoroman Jones JOBE. She was one of seven children. In 1965 she moved to Schenectady to live with her daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Stannard BUTLER. At the time of death she was survived by one sister Mrs. Frank MAYO of Washington C.H; two sons, Dr. Paul E. BAIRD, of Roanoke, Virginia, and George F. BAIRD, Bound Brook, New Jersey. Mable Osa BAIRD was a resident and well known school teacher in Gallipolis for almost 40 years. Her teaching career began in 1895 when she was 17. She taught for seven years before her marriage September 2, 1902 to Frank Otis “Todd” BAIRD who died November 2, 1916. Mrs. BAIRD taught school for eight years at Winchester, Ohio, before coming to Gallipolis in 1927. She was a primary grade teacher and supervisor for 22 years, retiring in 1949. She was a member of the Gallipolis Presbyterian Church.
She Carved A Niche
(An editorial: The Gallipolis Daily Tribune, August 1965)
The departure this week of one of our longtime residents brings with it a big void in the life of the city. Mrs. Osa BAIRD is leaving our city to make her home with a daughter in New York State, after having lived in our midst for 40 years. That might seem a short period but by modern standards it is a long time to live in a community. Today the average stay of most who come to small towns such as is of a rather short period, and our guess is that it is around a point between five to ten years. In the profession of Mrs. Baird, teaching, we seem to have fewer with long tenure each passing decade. The subject of our editorial probably never dreamed when she first set foot in our town that it would be for 40 years. Apparently what she saw here in the residents appealed to her and with each passing year the community grew on her unto the point she lived everything about it.
We guess that people are not as sentimental as they once were, in days gone by. Today they have become mercenary to a great degree, and the least advance in opportunities and the amount of money they can make causes many to scurry to other climes. Mrs. BAIRD, a widow, arrived in Gallipolis and took a teaching position, with her remaining son at home. Her daughter and other son were in pursuit of education in other places, and the eldest son was training to become a doctor. On her arrival here, Mrs. BAIRD immediately became a part of the community. She plunged into the whirl of school activities, and high on her list was her church, which she faithfully attended. It did not take her many months to become acquainted with almost the entire community, and that was one of the secrets of her attachment for Gallipolis. She was as well known by those outside of her immediate circle as she was with her associates at school and church.
There are not many people who become totally acclimated to the city of their residence. Far too many get into a tiny little circle, and apparently they seem perfectly satisfied to live their lives out in that manner. On the part of some it is something to be pitied because under their rather aloof exterior, they really at heart long to be liked and admired by many. Mrs. Baird became a fixture in our town. She was known as a kindly teacher, and with her own family of three she had those motherly traits that naturally drew her pupils to love and respect her, and they will never regret the day that they came to know her intimately. One of the last times that I talked to her, she spoke with pride of having taught long enough to se her first students as grandmothers and fathers.
In the latter years of her residence here she had the misfortune to become handicapped in her movements among her friends, but that did not dim her kindly nature, and it is seldom that we hear her complain. When she could no longer walk distances, she took a cab or friends called for her, and she continued on her round of calls and attendance at meetings with more of interest to the community. Her will to remain active was an inspiration to her many friends and those fellow members in organizations that she remained part of up to the last weekend she remained a Gallipolitan. Her secret of a wholesome life is one that we should all try to emulate. Never lose interest in the people and things taking place about your community. The minute you do you are dying. Gallipolis is a better place to live due to people like Mrs. Osa BAIRD, and even though she is living her life out hundreds of miles from her beloved Gallipolis, her spirit is still in our midst. We will not forget her, and she will not forget us, because one of her last acts before departure was to make sure that this newspaper followed her to her future home. --- DCW
Submitted by Scott Fraser