Margarita (Mendoza Rodriguez) Baker

Margarita

(Mendoza Rodriguez) Baker

Cedar Rapids

Margarita (Mendoza Rodriguez) Baker, 83, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, passed away on Saturday, March 29, 2025, at Harmony Cedar Rapids. A Memorial Service will be held at 5 p.m. on April 4, 2025, at Murdoch Funeral Home & Cremation Service in Marion, Iowa, where the family will greet friends from 3 - 5 p.m. Certified Celebrant, Amy Hart, will officiate.

Margarita was born on February 13, 1942, in Matamoros, Mexico, the daughter of Emilio Mansanarez and Guadalupe Mendoza Rodriguez. She worked in the marketplaces in Mexico prior to her marriage. On February 14, 1959, Margarita was united in marriage to Eugene Charles “Pancho” Baker in Brownsville, Texas. Together, they owned and operated Pancho & Maggie’s Café for many years in Strawberry Point, Iowa, before his unfortunate passing on August 18, 2013.

Margarita is survived and lovingly remembered by her two children, Mark Baker of Hopkinton, Iowa, and Judy (John) Pfohl of Dubuque, Iowa; eight grandchildren, Amanda (Scott) Lown, Jessica (Mark) Paisley, Matthew (Angelica) Pfohl, Alex Baker, Jacquelyn (Brian) Zeimet, Samuel Baker, Brooke Fangmann-Baker (fiancé, Mallory Loney), and Isabel Pfohl; 14 great-grandchildren, Keegan, Aidan, Katelynn, Cooper, Alexia, Syrus, Layton, Leela, Amelia, Archer, Sofia, Lennox, Olivia, and Stella; one great-great-granddaughter, Naomi; sister, Genoveva Mendoza of Texas; and many nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Eugene Charles “Pancho” Baker; her in-laws; and three siblings, Georgina, Genaro, and Emilio.

Memorials in Margarita’s memory may be directed to the family.

Please share a memory of Margarita at www.murdochfuneralhome.com under obituaries.