grave import

Obituary

Raymond Willard Baxter, 72- year-old business, civic, and political leader of 26 Cascade Terrace, succumbed to an aortic aneurysm in University hospitals, Iowa City, at 8:30 pm Monday.
Mr. Baxter was stricken last Thursday and taken to University Hospitals. He was apparently making satisfactory recovery when he suffered a fatal seizure.
Funeral arrangements are pending at Prugh’s Chapel.
Mr. Baxter’s career encompasses national politics, international relief and rehabilitation, military service, and commodities, and securities brokerage business.
He was born April 20, 1895, in Chicago, and was a graduate of Winona College of Agriculture, Winona Lake, Ind. He served as an engineer with the Army Air Corps in France in WW I.
Immediately after the war, Mr. Baxter was posted to Bucharest, Romania, for service with the American Red Cross Commission to the Balkans.
In 1920 he was married to Katherine Wickham of Chicago. He settled in Burlington that same year and, with his brother-in-law, WW Choff, opened Schoff & Baxter brokerage office. Mr. Baxter took charge of the Burlington office of the firm; Mr. Schoff, of the Chicago and Cedar Rapids offices.
Mr. Baxter served as chairman of the Des Moines County Democratic Central Committee at various times and was given much credit for the Democratic victory in Des Moines county in 1932. He served the Democratic party in other ways, attending national conventions and working for the election of his friend, Adlai Stevenson, unsuccessful Democratic Presidential candidate date in 1952 and 1956.
In 1961, President John F. Kennedy appointed Mr. Baxter to the Business Advisory Council.
Mr. Baxter was appointed Burlington postmaster in 1936, a post he held until 1943 when he was succeeded by Mrs. Baxter.
He left on WWII assignments, serving the Relief and rehabilitation Office of the U. S. Dept. of State in Tunis, Tunisia, and Casablanca, Morocco.
Prior to being named postmaster, Mr. Baxter had served as assistant director, Federal Housing Administration, in Des Moines.
He was a member of the US Commission to Observe the Greek Elections in 1946, serving in Athens.
Mr. Baxter was a member of the Midwest Stock Exchange and the Chicago Board of Trade.
He was a member of the First Congregational Church, Burlington Golf club, Crystal Lake Club, American Legion, and Rotary club, of which he was a past president.
Mr. Baxter had recently been serving on the Senior Housing Administration Committee.
He is survived by his wife, sons Harry Y. Baxter, of 1016 North Fourth St. and R. Wickham Baxter, Kentfield, Calif., an employee of Well-Fargo bank of San Francisco, and five grandchildren.
A memorial fund has been established at First Congregational Church.