Carolyn Purdy Baker
Friday, April 13, 2007
Carolyn Purdy Baker, 73, a retired CIA analyst, died March 13 at her home  in Oak Ridge, Tenn. She had myelodysplastic syndrome, a bone marrow disorder.
Ms. Baker was born in the District and graduated from  Woodrow Wilson High School in 1951. She attended Marietta College and received a bachelor's degree from the University of Maryland in 1955.
	After her marriage, she lived in Winston-Salem, N.C., Columbia, S.C., and Memphis before returning to Washington in the 1980s. She analyzed intelligence data for the Central Intelligence Agency until her retirement in 1997 and moved to Oak Ridge the next year.
Ms. Baker was a life member and former treasurer of the Society of Mayflower Descendants in the District and governor of the Society of Mayflower Descendants of Tennessee. She also was an avid birdwatcher and compiled an extensive list of birds sighted during a number of trips around the world.
Her marriage to Yelverton Cowherd Jr. ended in divorce.
Survivors include four children, Diane Cowherd Golfetto of Charlotte, James Y. Cowherd of Clinton, Tenn., Scott Baker Cowherd of Campbell, Calif., and Andrew Alan Cowherd of Oak Ridge; and four grandchildren.