Fred Baden - Early Years and Family

Early Years and Family

Baden was the only son of four children born in Pineville to Herman P. Baden (1885–1959) and Maude H. Baden (1896–1973), who are interred at Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Pineville. Baden was reared in a house located Lakeview Street in downtown Pineville. The late Alexandria Mayor John K. Snyder, whose tenure corresponded with that of Baden in Pineville, also grew up on Lakeview Street about a block from the Baden household. "He was the mayor of Alexandria, but he spent more time in Pineville," said Baden, who recalled that while Snyder maintained an apartment in Alexandria, he spent more time at his mother's Pineville residence. At the age of eighteen, Baden became a volunteer firefighter and worked as an auxiliary police officer. Baden also became a plumber and attained the level of "Master Plumber" by the age of twenty-eight. He served on the Pineville City Council from 1966 until his election as mayor in the spring of 1970.

Baden was twice married. After his divorce from the former Patsy Nugent (born August 5, 1932), he married his young secretary, the former Roxann Babb (born March 17, 1950). Patsy Baden later married Terrell D. Corley (born May 4, 1945).

Fred and Patsy Baden had four daughters, Sarah, Leah, Andrea (deceased), and Tracy, and three sons, Mark Wendell Baden (born September 17, 1953), a former deputy with the Rapides Parish Sheriff's Department, Gary Wayne Baden (born October 22, 1955), a plumber, and Tony Phillip Baden (born March 23, 1960) of Boyce. He had two sons by Roxann Baden, Frederick H. "Freddy" Baden, Jr. (born 1978), and Joshua Adam Baden (born 1979).

Baden's three sisters were Vivian B. Nugent and the late Linnie B. Murray and Louella Gatlin Bradford.