Alan Tangento 🇺🇸 Defender of Democracy 🇺🇦

I have some very sad news to report: Dr. T. Lindsay Baker, dean of Texas historians, was killed in a car crash on Route 66 in Arizona on Thursday. He died Thursday morning in an accident on Interstate 40 near Flagstaff while participating in the Route 66 Centennial Caravan as a Texas representative. Dr. Baker was driving his beloved 1930 Ford Model A “woody” station wagon in the caravan. He’d driven the vehicle on Route 66 several times. Bart Graves, media relations specialist for the Arizona Department of Public Safety, stated in an email that the two-vehicle accident occurred on eastbound I-40 at a.m. “A motorhome was traveling behind another uninvolved motor vehicle when the vehicle in front changed lanes abruptly to avoid colliding with another vehicle, which was an antique passenger car. “The motorhome was unable to take evasive action and collided with the rear of the antique vehicle, causing it to run off the roadway and roll over. The driver and sole occupant in the antique vehicle sustained fatal injuries and declared deceased on scene.” Oklahoma Route 66 Association President Rhys Martin wrote this: "To say I am devastated is a massive understatement. T Lindsay radiated joy. He was always smiling and keenly interested in what you had to say. Last night, our rooms were next to each other and I returned from dinner (exhausted) to find this note. I thought about it for a moment, then knocked on his door. We had a lovely half-hour conversation about a variety of things that I won’t go into now, but it was mostly him giving me council and support. That’s who he was: he built up those around him. Time with T Lindsay was time uplifted. Everything that T Lindsay did was intentional. The words he used, the points he made, the car he drove. He used every tool available to him to tell a story he felt was important. He was doing exactly what he wanted to do, the way he wanted to do it, and was surrounded by people that shared his joy. I am a better man for knowing Dr. Baker; we will not see his like again." I never met Dr. Baker, but I did speak with him on the phone in 2016. He was so enthusiastic. I heard joy in his voice. He was truly a beacon of wisdom and encouragement. I said that I would stop and visit with him when I drove through Stephenville, where he held the W. K. Gordon Chair in Industrial History. I never did. To say that this is a crushing blow for Texas is an understatement. Dr. Baker wrote about all aspects of Texas history. His many books are monumental contributions to Texas history. How diverse was he? Check out the titles of some of his books: A Field Guide to American Windmills Lighthouses of Texas Ghost Towns of Texas More Ghost Towns of Texas Adobe Walls: The History and Archaeology of the 1874 Trading Post The First Polish Americans: Silesian Settlements In Texas Gangster Tour of Texas (this is a really neat book that presents detailed maps, photographs of criminals, victims, and law officers, and pictures of the crime scenes as they appear today, as taken by Dr. Baker) Eating up Route 66: Foodways on America's Mother Road Texas Stories I Like to Tell My Friends Blades in the Sky: Windmilling through the Eyes of B. H. "Tex" Burdick Portrait of Route 66: Images from the Curt Teich Postcard Archives I own all of these except the last one. Needless to say, his books have informed so many of my posts here on Traces of Texas over the years. I never write about a ghost town without first consulting his ghost town books, for example. It's just a dang shame. What a loss for Texas. Dr. Baker was 79 years old. RIP Dr. T. Lindsay Baker! Photo of Dr. Baker with his car courtesy the Old Route 66 Historical Association.