Biography: John Clement Baber, MD was born November 21, 1924 to Stella Spann and John Clement Baber Sr. Myron, Arkansas. He graduated from Huntsville High School in 1942, received a BS from the University of Arkansas in 1944, and his MD from UAMS in 1947. His surgery residency was at UAMS, and he was the Chief of Surgery at UAMS in 1953. Dr. Baber served in the US army as a captain from 1949-53, serving in the second MASH hospital in Korea from 1950-52 and as a surgeon at the Army-Navy Hospital in Hot Springs in 1952 and 1953. He was a member of the American Board of Surgery, the American College of Surgeons, the American Bariatric Society, the Pan Pacific Surgical Society, the American Medical Association, the Arkansas State Medical Society and the Pulaski County Medical Society. He served on the staff of St. Vincent’s Hospital, Doctor’s Hospital, and Baptist Medical Center. John Baber was a patient in the VA Hospital at Fort Roots, suffering from Alzheimer’s disease the last two years of his life. The family would like to thank the staff at the Fort Roots VA Hospital for their compassionate care for John during his stay with them. Before his final illness, John loved life and had a wide variety of interests, including gardening, an interest he shared with his father, and was probably the first love of his life after medicine and his wife of sixty-two years, Barbara. Friends and family often enjoyed the produce from his garden which included what some say were the best tomatoes in Arkansas. John enjoyed working with rocks, whether building a wall, walkway, or just making a sculptural arrangement. He believed each rock had a “good side” and should be shown accordingly. His handiwork remains at many of the homes he and his family shared, including the wall at 321 Fairfax, the walkways and walls at 3307 Happy Valley as well as their Hot Springs house at 112 Stately Point. At times John took up various activities, including sculpture, jewelry making, and poetry. Around the time of his retirement, John began running and soon won several medals in local races including a first place finish in the 1989 Little Rock Turkey Trot. John and his wife Barbara loved to travel, visiting Europe for the first of many trips in 1968. In addition to many trips to Europe, they traveled to India, Egypt, Turkey and China. A vacation abroad was an annual event until the onset of his illness two years ago. Often the couple would rent a car and simply drive without reservations and traveling the out of way roads of the countries they visited. Through their travels they refined their interests in art, wine, and cooking; often bringing back recipes and ingredients from the exotic locales they visited. Friends and family later would enjoy the pleasure of the couple’s culinary skills acquired during their travels. All who knew John Baber know what a happy, fun loving person he was, one who had a positive outlook on life, the glass was always half full for John Baber. Before his illness, his love for his wife Barbara encompassed all his did. In 1946, John Baber married Barbara Ann Woods, daughter of Dr. Frederick Davis Woods and Jo Greer Woods of Little Rock. Dr. John Baber is survived by his wife Barbara, their three children and their spouses, Dr. John Tyler Baber and his wife Eden, Greer Baber Grace and her husband Charles Barnett Grace, and Dr. William Baber and his wife Donna Hilborn Baber as well as his five grandchildren, John Tyler Baber, Jr., Eden Abigail Baber, Charles Baber Grace, Katherine Andrea Baber, and William Woods Baber, Jr. John is survived also by two sisters Louella Baber Duncan and Mary Baber Hindsley and a brother Charles Tyler Baber. Friends are invited to his graveside service at Roselawn Cemetery at 10:00 am on Friday, June 20, 2008. A visitation will be held from 5:00pm -7:00pm Thursday, June 19, 2008 at 8 Longfellow Circle, Little Rock. In lieu of flowers donations may be made to the John Clement Baber Foundation at Pulaski Heights Methodist Church or to the Arkansas Alzheimer Association.