The Marshalltown woman planned to visit her late brother Wade Baker’s gravesite in Black Mountain, N.C., to commemorate his 50th birthday on Nov. 12. She did the same for her 50th birthday. When the COVID-19 pandemic made traveling more difficult, she was disappointed she could not celebrate her little brother’s birthday the way she planned.

“I was really bummed that day,” Thomas said. “I didn’t know what I was going to do. How do I celebrate my baby brother’s 50th birthday when he’s not here?”

Wade, a veteran of the U.S. Army, spent most of his life living in Marshalltown. He was deployed twice to Saudi Arabia and once to Kosovo.

In 2015, Wade committed suicide.

His family celebrated his 50th birthday by cooking and delivering more than 50 meals to people in need.

According to Thomas, her brother had post traumatic stress disorder and had suffered a traumatic brain injury.

“Wade was a very giving person. He loved to take care of others, even when he couldn’t help himself,” she said. “Then I was feeling bummed because the Salvation Army was not serving meals for Thanksgiving. So many people were going to be without Thanksgiving dinner.”

“I thought, that’s it. That’s going to be Wade’s birthday gift,” she continued. “I’m going to help 50 people.”

With less than two weeks until Thanksgiving, Thomas posted to the Marshall County Outreach group on Facebook her plan to make dinner for 50 families. She knew she had to post it quickly to make the commitment.

“I thought if I don’t post this right away I’m going to talk myself out of it,” she said. “I called my mom and said, ‘Guess what we’re doing?’ She said, ‘You’re crazy.'”

Sgt. Wade A. Baker died of suicide in August, 2015. To honor him for his 50th birthday, his sister Laura Thomas made more than 50 Thanksgiving dinners for community members in Marshalltown.

But her mother, Candace Baker, came to her aide to cook 50 meals. Laura’s husband Chip was also on board.

“He looked at me for a second. He said, ‘That’s awesome. Wade would love this,'” she said.

Then it was time to get to work. Thomas tracked down deals and received a couple donated turkeys. She made turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing and corn casserole. She also served pumpkin pie.

Laura and Candace started making turkeys the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and finished the last turkey on Wednesday night.

But the target of 50 meals served increased at the last minute. The day before Thanksgiving, House of Compassion contacted Thomas about additional families needing a meal. Chip rushed out to get more turkeys right away. Laura and her small team ended up making 67 Thanksgiving dinners.

SGT Wade A. Baker

Laura was up at 6 a.m. Thanksgiving Day to make sides so the meals could be delivered on time.

Laura had Chip and their son Richie ready to make the deliveries, but they received more help. Fellow community members Scott and Kelly Macauley stepped up to help with plating and delivering the meals.

“We weren’t planning on that. Boy, we were so grateful,” Laura said.

Laura also received monetary donations after she announced her Thanksgiving plans. Since she was able to receive some donated meal items and hunted down deals she did not spend much, so she plans to donate to the Iowa Veterans Home.

As hectic as typical Thanksgiving prep can be, multiplying it by more than 50 is a tall task. After pulling such a feat off with a short window of planning, Laura is ready to make it an annual tradition to honor her brother’s memory.

She hopes her giving actions also bring attention to the issue of veteran suicide and active soldier suicide.

“Some families talk about suicide kind of hush, hush. We don’t hide it at all,” she said. “If we could help another family from going through what we went through, that would be a great thing. There needs to be more awareness.”

According to the 2020 National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report published by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, more than 17 veterans commit suicide everyday. The number of veteran suicides per year consistently increased since 2006. There were an average of 127.4 deaths by suicide per day total in 2018.

NATIONAL SUICIDE PREVENTION HOTLINE

The National Suicide Prevention Hotline is a free, 24-hour phone service and is available in multiple languages. It can be reached at 800-273-8255.

Contact Joe Fisher at 641-753-6611 or jfisher@timesrepublican.com