Longtime Nevada City patrons Ken and Kay Baker have been selected as recipients of the 35th Annual Col. William H. “Bill” Lambert Award, which is presented each year as part of Nevada City’s Constitution Day Celebration.
The prestigious Lambert Award is given annually by the Famous Marching Presidents of Nevada City in recognition of outstanding contributions to the community. The award is named in honor of the late Col. William H. Lambert, founder of Nevada City’s annual Constitution Day Parade.
“The Famous Marching Presidents are extremely honored to recognize the Bakers for their decades of community service here in Nevada City,” said Marching Presidents founder and former Nevada City mayor David Parker.
Parker will present the award on Sunday, Sept. 15, at the Marching Presidents banquet following the 58th Annual Constitution Day Parade. The Bakers and Uncle Sam will lead the Presidents down Broad Street in the annual procession. The parade begins at 2pm.
Ken Baker, a fourth generation Nevada City resident whose great-grandfather’s name is engraved on the original City Hall plaque, is a former 30-year member and chief of the Nevada City Fire Department, a co-founder of the Nevada County Fish & Wildlife Commission, founding chairman of the former Citizen’s Bank and a co-founder of the Nevada County Law Enforcement and Fire Protection Council. Baker and his brother-in-law Tom Lott founded Nevada City Engineering in 1976.
Kay Baker is founding president and longtime member of the Friendship Club, which has grown into Bright Futures for Youth. She has served on the boards of the SNMH Foundation, Miners Foundry, Sierra College Foundation, Nevada County Chapter; and Partners in Education. She is a member of the Grass Valley Ladies Relief Society, longtime Rotarian and Soroptimist.
Together, the Bakers own and manage several properties in Nevada City, including the historic downtown buildings they carefully rebuilt after devastating fires (Friar Tuck’s in 1990 and more recently 416 Broad Street).
The Bakers have been married for 60 years and have lived on Coyote Street for 50 years, where they were neighbors with Col. Bill Lambert. They have three children, John, Richard and Kathryn; seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Ken Baker said the couple is very honored and surprised by the award. “As longtime residents and business people, we’ve always been dedicated to Nevada City and taken part in city affairs. We take pride in where we reside.” Kay Baker said she looked over the list of past recipients of the award and was impressed with the diverse lives of the honorees. “It takes all kinds people to make a community,” she observed. (See list of Lambert Award winners)
The Marching Presidents is a fun-loving and educational group that portrays all 46 U.S. Presidents with reverence, good humor and varying degrees of historical accuracy. For reliable information on U.S. Presidents, see www.americanpresident.org.
Past Lambert Recipients
Past Lambert Award recipients are the late city manager Beryl P. Robinson Jr., former mayor and city clerk Cathy Wilcox-Barnes, longtime parade organizers George and Pat Harper, former mayor Pat Dyer, the late real estate broker Jim Mackey, local writer Dave Carter, former Chamber of Commerce executive manager Cathy Whittlesey, former mayor Steve Cottrell, businessman Bob Buhlis, retired Nevada County general services director Dennis Cassella, John Christensen, a leader of community efforts to establish the Nevada County Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum; cartoonist R.L. “Crabman” Crabb, business owners Lee and Susan Thurston, retired Nevada City public works director Verne Taylor, the late historian Edwin Tyson, the late folksinger/activist U Utah Phillips, former city engineer Bill Falconi, Marching Presidents organizer Patti Foster, retired school administrator Karen Chizek, the late musician Mikail Graham, the late county librarian Madelyn Helling, local builder Gary Tintle, former mayors Paul Matson and Reinette Senum, Nevada City Film Festival Director Jesse Locks, Nevada City musician and producer Paul Emery, homeless advocates Joanna Robinson and Cindy Maple, former Grass Valley mayor Howard Levine, real estate broker Charlie Brock, local attorney Fran Cole, real estate broker Jon Blinder, performing arts leader John Deaderick and river scientist Joanne Hild. Marching Presidents founder David Parker was honored with the group’s 20th anniversary award.