Richard E. Baird

Lyndonville, VT: Richard E. Baird, age 94, went into the caring arms of his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, in the late afternoon of Monday, May 8, 2024, following a recent stay at the Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital in St. Johnsbury, VT.

 Richard was born on June 19, 1929, of Walter and Ellen (Magoon) Baird at Lyndon Center, Vermont. They moved to East Burke, Vermont in 1930 where he spent his childhood, attended East Burke Elementary School from 1935 to 1943 and Lyndon Institute from 1943 to 1947.  The family then moved to East Lyndon where he helped on the family farm while also working in maintenance at Fairbanks-Morse scale plant in St. Johnsbury. He married Alice Simpson of East Lyndon on July 7, 1950, at the East Lyndon Methodist Church of which both were active members. The couple shared nearly 74 years of married life. Richard was drafted into The U.S. Army - ASA Signal Corp. during the Korean War for two years and went through vehicle maintenance school while there. He worked at for the Howe Scale Plant in Rutland for 2 years then 9 years for the U.S. and VT State Forest Service. Having been born-again in the Spirit of Christ in 1961 he started studying the Bible for the Ministry and speaking as a lay preacher in many area churches.

 Richard served as Pastor of Moretown and Hancock Methodist Churches and exchanged pulpits of Waterbury and Middlesex Methodist Churches. He served as summer Pastor at the South Wheelock Baptist Church and assisted Pastor Axel Heath of the Northeastern Baptist Parish of Lyndon Center, Sheffield and Sutton Baptist Churches, speaking in these churches on a rotating basis. During this time, he worked as the Maintenance Supervisor at the Darling Inn Convalescent Home in Lyndonville, VT. where he was also instrumental in starting a regular Sunday evening worship service at home. He founded the ministry of Emmanuel Chapel in Mt. Hunger and opened weekly broadcast "Foundational Truths" over the local radio station WTWN in St. Johnsbury. He served as Pastor of the Weathersfield Church in the Wildwood and later opened a broadcast over radio station NDEV in Waterbury that was heard each Sunday morning. He later worked as a maintenance contractor for New England Telephone Co., retiring in 1988. In his retirement he founded a new ministry at East Lyndon where he and his wife, Alice, had built a new home and chapel which became East Lyndon Chapel and served there as Pastor for many years. Upon retiring from this pastoral ministry, he carried on a Sunday morning family bible class.

 Survivors include his wife, Alice, of Lyndonville and many nieces and nephews.

 He was predeceased by his siblings: Roland Baird, Marion Wallace, Ruth Southhouse, Catherine Simpson, Eunice Bishop and Gladys Aldrich.

 There will be no Calling Hours.  A Graveside Service will be held at the Lyndon Center Cemetery at 2PM on Tuesday, May 14, 2024.          

Memorial donations may be made to the Vermont Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired, 60 Kimball Ave, S. Burlington, VT 05403-6808 or www.vabvi.org/ 

Condolences may be shared with the family at www.guibordfh.com