On January 10, 2026, Lillian Lauretta Baugh, Ed.D., NCSP, died peacefully at home, dressed and ready to join friends for dinner at her senior living community in Hollywood, Florida. She was born on April 18, 1936, in Chicago, Illinois, to Lillian Lauretta Barnett (nee Johnson) and Lynn Bernard Barnett.

She was a retired, seasoned professional with extensive experience as an educator, psychologist, administrator, and writer. She served two years in the United States Army, where she met and married her husband, Horace Lawrence Baugh, in 1957 (who preceded her in death on June 10, 1984). After thirteen years as a stay-at-home mother, she pursued an undergraduate degree in Early Childhood Education from Norfolk State University in Virginia. In 1971, newly divorced, she accepted a K-1 teaching position in Newton, Massachusetts. She studied at night school for four years and earned her Master's in Counseling Psychology. Throughout the eighties, she worked as a school psychologist, pursued, and earned a doctorate in educational administration with concentrations in school psychological services and staff development (1991).

The highlight of Lauretta's extensive career in education was serving as Director of Psychological and Pupil Adjustment Counseling Services for Boston Public Schools.

Tenacious, engaged, and ambitious, her extracurricular achievements include, but are not limited to, Cross-Cultural counseling at the University of Massachusetts (Boston), Child and Adolescent Counseling Mentor at Cambridge College, part-time Mental Health Director at a Women and Children's Clinic (Chicago), and Clinical Coordinator for Drug Addicted Women and their children. She developed and conducted numerous workshops for churches, schools, homeless shelters, and foster parents.

Her deep love for Jesus Christ was demonstrated through her profound knowledge of the Bible. She prayed daily for loved ones and had specific verses for each person dear to her heart, as well as for those she hoped to help find happiness through spiritual devotion. She was an avid reader of fiction, educational, and nonfiction books and was also a prolific memoirist, self-publishing her story, Uncle Sam’s Women, in November 2016.

She is survived by her children, Michael Baugh (Maria), Hollywood, Florida, Mark Baugh, Glenn Dale, Maryland, Deana Johnson (Richard), Hollywood, Florida, and Darlyne Johnson (David), Paris, France, brother Louis Guthrie, Lebanon, Illinois, brother Straughter Guthrie, Chicago, Illinois, grandchildren Deirdre Baugh, Kristina Baugh, Michael Jacinto Baugh, Marcos Baugh, Malachi Baugh (Crissy), Marcelle Baugh, Mason Baugh, and great-grandchildren, Janelle Shepard, and Xavier Tyson.

A Celebration of Life will be held on April 19th in Chicago. In her honor, donations can be made through the Memorial Gifts tab on this website: Mercy Ships Foundation

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