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March 15, 2009

Disabled vet dies on the way to D.C.

By Julianna Parker Jones

Kevin Baker, the disabled veteran who left Norman March 7 on a 15-week journey on his hand-propelled bicycle, died Friday morning.

He suffered from a seizure in his sleep when he was staying with a Gold Star family in Lake Charles, La., said Diane Zellner of Norman. The 39-year old Gulf War Navy veteran had suffered a traumatic brain injury so had a history of seizures, she said. He also had been diagnosed with lymphoma.

Baker had planned to ride his bicycle from Norman to Washington, D.C., and Gettysburg, Pa., to Marseilles, Ill., to support a new flag designed to honor fallen members of the military, The Transcript reported March 8. He planned to fly the Honor and Remember Flag from his bike and encourage people along the way to sign a petition urging Congress to adopt the flag as a new national symbol by passing HR Bill 1034.

"He made a valiant effort to promote this new flag, the Honor and Remember flag for the Gulf War dead, and unfortunately it took his life, too," said Jim Zellner, who was listed as Baker's emergency contact. The Zellners were called by a Louisiana hospital Friday morning and told Baker died in an ambulance after his seizure Friday morning, Diane Zellner said.

Baker was injured while serving as a firefighter in Kuwait during the Persian Gulf War when a Scud missile struck his barracks, but Zellner said he had seemed healthy enough to undertake the bike trip.

"He was doing well, so this kind of took us by surprise," she said.

Baker struggled with his health, but what people admired about him was how he moved forward despite his health problems and disabilities, she said.

"He struggled every day, but he lived, he was going to do what he wanted to do," Zellner said.

Jim Zellner met Baker about two and a half years ago at the YMCA and the men became friends and, Zellner said, "like family."

"Such a nice, nice kid," Diane Zellner said of Baker.

Before he died, Baker made several blog posts from the road that can be read at www.honorandremember.org/kevin.html. His last post was Wednesday near Sherman, Texas. He said the weather was raining and 34 degrees, so he said the Honor Guard from Louisiana would pick him up and take him somewhere warmer.

Although he didn't finish his journey, Diane Zellner said Baker died doing something worthwhile.

"He was doing something he loved," she said. "This was something he was passionate about."

Julianna Parker Jones 366-3541 jparker@normantranscript.com

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