By: Cindy Lynn Baker
To say my childhood was a difficult one would be an understatement of epic proportions. To say I would change any of it would be downright foolish.
Hi! I’m Cindy Baker, the third of eight siblings. We were “gypsies Gypsies” according to most but “world travelers” by those who really didn’t know or understand. Moving from place to place, new schools every year, being painfully, almost sickeningly shy, I could not have imagined that anyone could be more insecure than I was.Learning to hide from myself, family issues and inner demons, I was “outwardly” the social butterfly, wandering from place to place, making the most of any positive light I might find—the love of my mother, the ever-present friendship of my siblings, the newness of each fixer-upper we came to live in. Through 13 states, countless houses, 18 (or more) schools, the only place I felt secure and comfortable, able to be myself, was the one place of both love and pain, stability in its instability, order in the midst of chaos: at home.
So, clinging to immeasurable lessons learned through adversity, what did I aspire to? What did I wish to be? What kind of adult should I make of myself? Come the night of my high school graduation, I decided I had no clue! I thought to myself that I have three distinct options, things I know, albeit not very well: motherhood (via younger-sibling OJT), graphic arts (learned sitting at the feet of my work-from-home mom) and construction of some sort (curiosity built from years of fixer-uppers). Having few romantic “interests” or even real “dates” in high school, I kind of figured the first one was back-burnered, so I moved on to number two: graphic arts.
My graphic art “career” spanned from high school graduation in 1981 through my first marriage and the birth of our beautiful daughter right into my divorcée and single-mother years, which began in 1987. I worked for print shops, publications and other media facilities, It was a great creative outlet for me, a challenge to learn all the facets of advertising, design, old-fashioned cut and paste, camera and darkroom work, typesetting and more, but It was typesetting classified ads for a small newspaper that my world opened up to option number three!
I answered an ad for a construction receptionist at a national housing development and got the job. Even as a single mother, I knew taking a cut in pay to get it the job would eventually pay off, but I never imagined exactly how much. Beginning a receptionist, I quickly moved up. I took over the accounting department while my coworker was on maternity leave, learning payables and job costing. I began running permits, bidding, scheduling and contracting subs for the superintendent, moving into the construction secretary position. I learned every detail I could from infrastructure to rooftops! This was where I found intrigue: building things from the ground up. Little did I know at that time, but everything was a foundation for the life I had never even imagined.
In October of 1989, I met a handsome man from New England named Dan who owned a general contracting business with his two partners from Connecticut. They happened to be building their first custom spec-home in the area, so we found a lot to talk about and a common bond beyond the mundane. But, who can have a testimony without a test?
Shortly thereafter, my company decided to sell the rest of the development and offered me a transfer to South Florida. With my heart longing to stay, and my sense of determination to provide for my daughter saying go, in early February 1990, he helped me put my belongings in the back of my pickup truck and said goodbye. My daughter and I were off to West Palm. Fast-forward five long months, during a weekend visit back to Jacksonville, and I ended up in emergency surgery, down for six weeks, during which time my company filed bankruptcy and paid a generous severance package along with my medical leave and insurance. My “Mr. Wonderful” (aptly named by a coworker!) Dan along with family and friends packed up my small apartment and moved me back to Jacksonville while I was still recuperating. This is how I came to work for a company of three New England contractors from Connecticut! Construction secretary skills in hand, I took on the paperwork and office organization for the rapidly growing Bayorcor, Inc. Company. owned by Dan Baker, Doug York and Joe Francoeur. By January of 1992, I also took on Dan’s last name!
We were married in a beautiful ceremony, with my then five-year-old little princess as flower girl. That’s when I got to enjoy option number one! I became a stay-at-home mom, through our daughter’s kindergarten and first grade years, eventually opting for homeschooling in second grade. Later in 1992, when South Florida was devastated by Hurricane Andrew, Bayorcor the company headed south! Making repairs, staying in rubble and destruction, they worked months at a time, repairing home after home. During our first 18 months of marriage, Danny was gone nearly 10 months, expanding my duties to include chief cook and bottle washer, lawn mower, trash taker, tree trimmer, bill payer and engine mechanic! Upon returning from Miami, the company branched into the commercial tenant buildout market starting with the newest mall to Jacksonville at the time in the area, The Avenues. And eventually they began building stores in malls around the country.
By 1995, the business had grown and partners were stressed and at odds with direction. With the amiable agreement to dissolve the company and its partnership Bayorcor, Dan and I set out on our own and DanCin Enterprises was born! Without missing a step, we walked right into the tenant buildout field, building Auntie Anne’s Pretzels and other franchises around the country from Miami to Minnesota, from South Carolina to San Antonio and New York to Nevada! Our combined construction experience has led us through rough waters and organized us in ways that baffle others in the field, even our accountants.
From the ground up, we have worked together and employed many for 20 years, employing many, blesseding and being blessed, working hard and vacationing harder! We work together, work out together, bike together, fish together and hunt together. We have lived in the same house for 20 years (hallelujah)!
Looking back, I see my life as God might have seen it looking forward. The struggles in the early years literally set the stage and laid the foundation for the person I would become and the life that I would love! I am blessed beyond measure with the construction of my life and see the evidence of the Master Planner in the unfolding of His master plan.