Obituary of Ele “Tony” Antoine Baker 1944-2012

Abstract

Archaeology in general and Paleoindian archaeology in particular lost one of its most active and individualistic participants with the recent passing of Tony Baker on May 30, 2012. Tony was born on October 20, 1944 and named Ele Antoine Baker honoring his father Ele Madison Baker and his mother Luella Jewel Antoine. He was raised in Albuquerque, where after graduating from Highland High School, he attended the University of New Mexico earning a BS in Civil Engineering in 1967. This led to a job in the west Texas oil fields and subsequently to a 33 year career with Texaco, in Wyoming, Indonesia, and Colorado as a petroleum engineer. He married Simone McPherson of Midland, Texas on February 17, 1969 and together they raised two children, William Anderson (Andy) Baker and Traci Michelle (Missy) Jervis. Although Tony’s formal archaeological education occurred later in life, his practical education came earlier and from solid sources. Tony’s grandfather, William E. “Uncle Bill” Baker, was the county agricultural agent in Cimarron County, Oklahoma from 1922 through 1947. As a result of his job he developed an interest in “collecting arrowheads” and became well known for his extensive collection of artifacts, much of which was Paleoindian material recovered from plowed fields and Dust Bowl blowouts. As his avocation developed “Uncle Bill” began documenting his finds with detailed locational information and he corresponded with and contributed to the works of many prominent professional archaeologists of the day such as A.V. Kidder and E. B. Howard, among many others. Growing up, Tony’s dad often accompanied his father on many of his exploration and collecting forays over the Oklahoma Panhandle region and he developed a keen interest in locating and documenting find locales, studying artifacts and learning all he could about the landscape and prehistoric inhabitants of the area. After a year at Panhandle A&M, in 1933 Tony’s dad transferred to the University of New Mexico to play football and study archaeology where he met and married Tony’s mother. As the Great Depression worsened Ele and Jewel ran out of money and were forced to drop out of school. However, Ele had made such an impression on the Anthropology Department that they offered him a job as the supervisor of a Civilian Conservation Corps excavation and restoration project at the Spanish mission of Quarai. Following that, the Bakers moved to the Jemez Mission for a similar project and also worked at the Chaco and Paako ruins. In 1938 the Bakers moved to Amarillo to supervise the excavation of the Antelope Creek Focus Ruins, a Works Progress Administration project. Following the end of the project in 1941, Ele and Jewel conducted a Paleoindian survey in northeastern New Mexico. They returned to Albuquerque and with their archaeological careers at an end, made their living as schoolteachers until retirement. With this kind of a family history it seems odd that Tony as a youngster and a teenager was not interested in roaming the countryside looking for artifacts. On the way home from weekend family fishing trips Ele would always stop somewhere to look for artifacts. Tony didn’t like trudging along with him because it was hot and dusty and he didn’t like sitting in the car because it was hot and boring and he didn’t like it period because it made them late getting home. However, his attitude changed in 1963 after taking an introductory anthropology course at UNM taught by Frank Hibben that dealt in part with Paleoindians. As a result he asked his father to go Obituaries