REDLANDS >> Carol Baker’s mark is on every Baker’s Drive-Thru.

The Redlands woman is responsible for the design of each location in the Inland Empire fast-food chain she built with her husband, Neal.

Carol Baker died May 24 at the age of 89.

Her passion for design developed long before she earned certification in the industry. In addition to her work with the restaurants, her family said, she designed the look of each home she and her husband built.

“My dad was a builder and she would design the homes,” recalled daughter Janise Talley. “To see a couple so dynamic in ways that complemented each other was just amazing.”

Baker was a journal writer, said granddaughter Jennifer Medeiros of Redlands. Her family estimates she kept between 30 to 40 journals, each filled with daily reflections on her life.

Baker was born July 18, 1927, in San Bernardino to William and Mabel Hildebrand. She spent her early years in the area before moving to Fontana. She graduated from Chaffey High School in 1945 and began driving a school bus in the region.

A year later, Baker met her future husband on a blind date.

“My uncle had tickets to see Lionel Hampton in Los Angeles and she went to the concert with my dad, her brother and a friend of theirs,” said Talley. “And when she came home that very night, she told her family that she had met the man she was going to marry.”

As Talley recalls, the group was there for about 20 minutes but her father didn’t like the music.

“So he got up and told my mom he was going to go grab a cup of coffee and she went with him. My mom said later it was the best decision she had ever made.”

Talley and Medeiros said Carol Baker fell in love with Neal because he was unique and had a dynamic personality.

She “fell in love with him almost immediately,” Talley added.

Six months after their first date, the couple married on June 22, 1946, in Yuma, Arizona. At the time of Neal Baker’s death in 2008, they had been married 62 years.

Carol Baker was 81 at the time, yet she stepped into her husband’s role, running Baker’s as its president. She took it “all in stride,” said Talley, and up to two years ago remained very active in the company.

During her tenure, Baker saw the opening of the Baker Family Learning Center in Muscoy in 2013. The facility is named after her husband, who grew up in the area. The center was made possible through a land donation by Neal Baker and additional resources from San Bernardino County.

“It’s the best thing that could happen to Muscoy,” Carol Baker said in 2013. “Neal would have loved this.”

Baker loved to travel with her family. They often visited Hawaii, family members said, the only place where Baker would take a break with a book or two.

Maintaining a strong family bond was important to Baker, as was her faith and giving back to the community.

According to her family, Baker was a longtime member of the First Church of Christ Science on Vine Street, was a docent at Kimberly Crest House & Gardens and University of Redlands Town & Gown. She also supported the Redlands Bowl’s Summer Music Festival, as well as the Redlands Symphony, the A.K. Smiley Public Library and Family Service Association. The association honored Baker in 2012 with the Alfred H. Smiley Philanthropic Award. In 1999 she was named Redlands’ Woman of the Year.

Aside from her work with the restaurant chain, Baker successfully ran her own interior design firm — Baker’s Interiors — for 30 years. Her clients included the now-defunct Bank of San Bernardino and several homeowners in the Inland Empire.

Her family said her favorite design project was the Redlands home she shared with her husband.

Baker is survived by daughters Janise Talley of Redlands and Janet Walek of Newport Beach; three grandchildren, Jennifer Medeiros of Redlands, Melissa Carol Abdine of Austin, Texas, and Michael Walek of New York City; and four great-grandchildren, Katelyn and Neal Medeiros and Paisley and Magnolia Abdine.

Services will be private.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks donations be made in Baker’s name to the A.K. Smiley Public Library, 125 W. Vine St., Redlands CA 92373; Kimberly Crest House & Gardens, 1325 Prospect Drive, Redlands CA 92373; Redlands Family Service, 612 Lawton St., Redlands CA 92374; or the Redlands Symphony, 210 E. Citrus Ave., Redlands CA 92373.