On June 15, 2023, Eston Jerome Baden of Hughesville, Maryland passed away peacefully at home surrounded by his family. Eston was born on November 3, 1950 in Washington, DC and was raised on a farm alongside his siblings in Prince George’s county, Maryland. Eston was the son of the late Joseph H. Baden and Bridget A. Baden. He is predeceased by his brother Joseph A. Baden (“Anthony”) and his sister Maureen Baden. Eston is survived by his brother Halbert Baden (wife Gloria) of Miami, FL, his brother William “Willie” Baden (wife Brenda) of Brandywine, MD and sister Patricia O’Donnell of Elkridge, MD along with his nieces and nephews.

In 1969, Eston joined the US Air Force and served for four years until his honorable discharge. After his time in the service, Eston came home to Maryland and began working for what is now known as Verizon where he retired as a service technician after over 42 years of employment. Eston made many lifelong friends at Verizon who stayed in contact and visited with him over the years and in the time prior to his passing. He valued those friendships and the time spent with them at work and after his retirement.

Eston is also survived by his two loving children Christopher Eston Baden (fiancé Virginia) and Emily Ann Baden (boyfriend Tommy). Eston was a hard-working and devoted father to Chris and Emily. As they grew up Eston was a very involved father leading cub scouts for Chris and making it a point to attend all of Emily’s soccer games when he was not working overtime to provide for his family. He kept that tradition going by showing up for his grandchildren with the same dedication years later. Eston also loved to laugh and enjoy life with those around him. He would often rescue box turtles he found in the roadway and send pictures to his children and grandchildren stating, “it’s a turtle day”.

Eston held many passions throughout life to include tinkering on tractors and vehicles, attending car shows and visiting with friends. Eston’s most prized possession was his red 1966 Ford F100 pickup truck which he could be seen driving around town especially on trips to Bob Evans for breakfast after his retirement. The only thing he adored more than that truck were his two precious grandchildren Kayla and Michael Baxter (Emily’s children). Eston would attend Kayla’s soccer games and teach his “little buddy” Michael how to tinker on cars, trucks and tractors. In August of 2021, he and Michael took a road trip to Iowa for the SlickStock truck show and made many memories along the way meeting Emily in Iowa for the drive home. Eston was known to take special trips with Kayla in the red truck for ice cream and dessert runs and often sent her reminders that he was thinking of her by saying “what’s the story Kayla.” Eston was a devoted grandfather to Kayla and Michael and taught them many life lessons and always made sure they were happy and cared for.

Eston was well loved by many friends, neighbors and his family. He took care of the people he loved. Even in recent years with health challenges, he still made plowing snow out of the neighbor’s driveway a priority and was just a phone call away for anyone that needed help. He spent quite a bit of time with his brother Anthony taking road trips and making deals on tractors and worked with his brother Hal on tractors and around the family farm. He never turned down an opportunity to go out to eat and have a meal with his siblings when they were in town. Eston had a very close relationship with all of his brothers and his sister.

Through networking at car shows, Eston made many friends across the country and looked forward to talking shop with those friends over the phone and in person. The amount of knowledge and expertise lost with Eston is immeasurable. It was special to him to find like-minded individuals who treasured classic Fords as much as he did. Cruising around in his ’66 Ford pickup was one of his favorite things to do while listening to 50’s and 60’s oldies and singing along.

Through many trials and tribulations with his health, Eston and his daughter Emily had many conversations about his final wishes when that time came. Eston’s only request was that people show up to his service in jeans if they wanted to attend so that they would be comfortable. He didn’t want anyone upset or crying. In true Eston fashion he was concerned for others and didn’t want his illness to be a burden. To know Eston was truly a gift and he will be dearly missed by everyone lucky enough to know him.