When he was student at Miller Junior High, John Earl Baines, a longtime Denton resident, public servant and humanitarian, started an R&B musical act with his friends, the Miller Thrillers, that would continue through high school until, at 19, Baines volunteered for the U.S. Army.
They were always singing and would sing everywhere, such as under street lamps and at clubs around Houston — which his wife, Tracey Baines, says was probably illegal given the group’s young ages in the 1960s.
After John Baines returned stateside in the 1970s, the focus of his singing was different as he had become a Christian in the military, his wife recalls. He began singing in choirs and later finding melodies he enjoyed, changing the words and singing whenever he could.
“No matter what kind of occasion it was, he had a song for it,” Tracey Baines says. “He would sing for the occasion and sing to different people for their special events. … That was just what he loved to do, and if he sang to you, it was his love language.
“Besides doing something practical, he would have a song, even when his health began to decline.”
John Baines would use his gift of song for 40 years in Denton, serving and supporting dozens of local nonprofits and community organizations in North Texas. He was a founding member of the Denton Black Chamber of Commerce and the Denton Blues Festival, where he “helped create platforms that uplifted artists, musicians and entrepreneurs across multiple genres and backgrounds,” according to his recent obituary.
Baines died Monday. He was 73.
Baines leaves behind his wife of 48 years, two adult children, Shauna Yvette and Shawn Evan Baines, and six grandchildren — and family members, friends and a community who loved, honored and respected him.
The family plans to host a celebration of his life at 9:30 a.m. July 25 at the Quakertown Civic Center.
In a statement Thursday, the Baines family extended their “deepest love and gratitude to the Denton community” whose “kindness, prayers and heartfelt experiences of support have lifted us in ways words can barely capture.”
“Johnny’s passion — his heartbeat — was Unity in the Community. He believed with every fiber of his being that Denton could be a place where every person felt seen, valued, and welcomed. He lived for that vision. He served for that vision. And he never stopped building toward that vision. Whether he was mentoring young people, supporting local businesses, encouraging artists, strengthening families, or simply offering a warm smile and a word of hope, Johnny carried unity wherever he went. He saw Denton not just as a city, but as a family — one worth nurturing, protecting, and uplifting.
“Our family wants you to know that Johnny’s love for Denton was deep, sincere, and unwavering. He poured his life into this community because he believed in its people. He believed in its potential. And he believed that together, we could create something extraordinary.”
Community dedication
John Baines was involved in so many local organizations that Tracey Baines says she still can’t believe how much he was able to do and wasn’t sure how he did it all, given that he was also active with Christian service and working with young people and young couples in the community.
He was also a successful small businessman who operated an accounting firm in Denton for 40 years this year.
John Baines’ community service includes organizations such as the Denton Black Chamber of Commerce, the Denton Chamber of Commerce, Serve Denton, Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Denton, Texas Association of African American Chambers of Commerce, Denton County Friends of the Family and United Way of Denton County.
He received several accolades over the years, including the 2017 Community Service Award from the Denton Rotary Club, the 2023 Dr. Bettye Myers Humanitarian Award from United Way of Denton County and the 2025 TXCPA Distinguished Public Service Award from the Texas Society of CPAs.
Earlier this year, the Denton Black Film Festival awarded Baines and his wife with the DBFF Community Service Award.
Baines was “one of the most consequential people to have been part of the Denton community in the last 50 years,” says Harry Eaddy, a longtime friend and the founder and executive director of the film festival.
In 2001, President George W. Bush honored Baines at the White House with a national award for Outstanding Minority Role Model, issued by the Small Business Administration.
Over the years, three different mayors recognized Baines’ contributions with three separate “John Baines Days.”
The last one was on Nov. 10, 2021, according to a city spokesperson.
Denton County Judge Andy Eads called Baines a longtime friend and a dedicated volunteer who had long been part of the city’s fabric, “willingly dedicating his time, energy and the occasional tune to supporting entities that help others.”
“One of my favorite memories of John Baines is when he invited me to his office to sing a song he wrote for me to thank and encourage me during my service as Denton County judge,” Eads said via a spokesperson. “It made me cry, and of course we also had a good laugh. He knew how to be positive and encourage people. That was one of his gifts and he used it boldly.”
An inner-city kid
When he was a child in the 1950s, Baines appeared in a photograph in a local newspaper and would later recall he had become a poster child for the United Fund, now known as United Way, after his parents placed him at a daycare on a sliding pay scale that the nonprofit funded in Houston.
He described having a pensive look on his face and recalled the photo caption: “I’m a little worried whether or not we’ll reach our financial goal this year.”
“As a child, I benefited from the United Way,” Baines said in a January 2024 interview with Denton County Magazine. “I grew to become their advocate and transitioned to one who works to benefit others. I’m very thankful to be able to help them, and I’ll never retire from working for the improvement of mankind.”
Tracey Baines says he didn’t become that way himself.
“That was a pattern he saw,” she says.
That pattern started with his father, Billy Baines, a longtime educator who was the first Black principal for Fort Bend ISD and had a middle school on the outskirts of Houston named after him.
His father, who died in 2010, encouraged John to join the military and told him, “You’ve got to get off these streets if you want to make anything out of your life.”
As a kid from the inner city, John Baines never imagined he would have the opportunity to visit places like England and the Netherlands or spend two years in Germany.
“Thank you, Dad, for putting that on my plate,” Baines told United Way in 2023.
After the military, Baines graduated from the University of Houston. There, he met Tracey Ballentine, who recalls how he struck up a conversation in a campus parking lot after class and why she decided to marry him shortly after his graduation.
“It was just his personality,” she says. “He was just warm and friendly, and he had a sense of purpose. I think he was just kind and considerate. I just kind of like that. He was that caliber of person.”
A few years after their marriage, they would begin Christian ministry work with college students and young families, a mission that Tracey Baines says continued for four decades.
With an MBA in accounting, marketing and systems design from the University of Texas at Arlington, John Baines became a certified public accountant and, in 1986, opened an accounting firm in Denton, where he had moved with his family.
André “Frenchy” Rheault from Frenchy’s Lawn & Tree Service says he was one of Baines’ first customers.
“He was a family man, and he was really proud of his grandchildren,” Rheault says. “He was a dedicated husband and extremely community-minded.”
Rheault’s and Baines’ businesses shared a building, and they hosted joint Christmas parties that community leaders would attend, such as educator Bettye Myers, whom Baines said he considered a mentor and someone who “was involved in every humanitarian effort and charitable organization in Denton County.”
Baines would come up with the songs and do karaoke for their joint Christmas parties.
During this week’s Denton City Council meeting, council member Jill Jester recalled sharing the stage with him at the Christmas parties. Jester said Baines was “known for his beautiful singing voice that, luckily, he was not shy about.”
Jester says people were drawn to his genuine warmth.
“He was a true gentleman and was asked every year to run for office because he was the kind of person you would trust to represent everyone the way that you would hope our elected officials would care and think,” she said. “He was always at the top of the list.”
A servant-leader
Shortly after moving to Denton, Baines began his servant leadership roles by serving on the board of Denton County Friends of the Family, a nonprofit for survivors of domestic violence.
He would go on to serve as a board member and chair for several organizations.
A former chair of United Way of Denton County, Baines became a lifetime member and served with distinction, says Gary Henderson, the president and CEO of the local United Way.
He and Baines first met at Henderson’s first United Way campaign kickoff luncheon about 15 years ago, when staff scheduled Baines to sing on stage. Henderson called Baines a philanthropist, an iconic role model and a servant-leader “who had an incredibly beautiful voice.”
A few years before his death, Baines had been working with the Young Minority Entrepreneurs Institute. His mission was to help young people from lower-income households become business owners and find success through unconventional avenues such as trade schools.
Baines was seeking to change the paradigm that college was the only way to success.
“If a child doesn’t get that foundational piece, it’s difficult to succeed in life,” Baines said in 2024. “Their future could take a different direction.”
Among the United Way staff, Henderson says so many people knew, loved and worked with Baines, and that there were few in their organization who stand above the rest, such as Myers, for example.
Baines is one of the few.
“John was the most decent human being you ever met, a man of faith, community and family,” Henderson says. “If you had the pleasure of working with John, you would probably say he was the best person you knew.”
Angelic voice
At Texas Oncology in Denton, Tracey Baines recalls her husband looking around at the somber faces. Everyone looked tense and stressed. He understood their struggles. He’d been a cancer survivor since 2008, only for his health struggles to return.
He wanted to lighten the day and sang to everyone in that waiting room.
“It was kind of a gift that he had ready to give to people,” Tracey Baines says.
The Baines family found comfort in knowing that his life touched so many and that his legacy “continues to shine brightly through each of you.”
In his obituary, the family writes that John Baines “lived a life of purpose, generosity and devotion.”
“His faith in Jesus Christ shaped his character, his service and his love for others,” the family writes. “He touched countless lives through his mentorship, leadership, ministry and even through the songs he wrote to lift the hearts of those around him.
“His legacy will continue to inspire future generations, reminding all who knew him that a life lived in service to God and others is a life truly well lived.”
CHRISTIAN McPHATE can be reached at 940-220-4299 and cmcphate@dentonrc.com.
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