Funeral services for Thomas Lindsay “T. Lindsay” Baker, 79, will be conducted at 10:00 a.m. Tuesday, June 23, 2026, at United Presbyterian Church, 1510 W. Westhill Dr., Cleburne, Texas 76033. Burial will be private.

A visitation for family and friends will be held from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Monday, June 22, 2026, at Rosser Funeral Home, 1664 West Henderson Street, Cleburne, Texas 76033. Condolences may be sent to Mrs. Julie P. Baker, P.O. Box 507, Rio Vista, TX 76093.

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T. Lindsay Baker, Ph. D. died Thursday, June 11, 2026, in Arizona.

T. Lindsay was born April 22, 1947, to Garnell and Mary Miller Baker in Cleburne, Texas. As a youth, he earned the rank of Eagle Scout. He graduated from Cleburne High School in 1965 and went on to attend his parents’ alma mater, Texas Tech University, where he received his Ph. D. in 1977. In 1975, he became a Fulbright Lecturer at Wroclaw Polytechnic University, Poland, where he conducted some of the research for his first award-winning book, The First Polish Americans: Silesian Settlements in Texas. A man of diverse historical interests, he taught in the Engineering Program at Texas Tech before accepting the role of Curator of Agriculture and Technology at Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum in Canyon, Texas, in 1978.

Over the next nine years, T. Lindsay produced museum exhibits and books that would educate thousands of heritage tourists and readers of Texas and American history. He displayed his expertise in wind power history in his initial publication on the subject, A Field Guide to American Windmills. It pleased him that it never went out of print. Soon after, came Building the Lone Star: An Illustrated Guide to Historic Sites. With Billy R. Harrison, he documented the story of famed Panhandle trading post, Adobe Walls. His most popular book is likely Ghost Towns of Texas for which he drove over 5,000 miles and found so many sites that a sequel was required.

After two years as Curator of History at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, he joined the Baylor University Museum Studies Department in 1989. T. Lindsay taught hundreds of budding public historians skills that they would rely on throughout their careers, but he also held multiple leadership roles in the department. During this time, he wrote Lighthouses of Texas, which was inspired by childhood visits to his Auntie Etelka’s Galveston home. He published additional works on windmills and windmillers and with his wife, Julie P. Baker, he edited two volumes of slave narratives. In 1997, Hill College called him to serve as the founding director of the Texas Heritage Museum.

In 2002, Tarleton State University appointed him the W. K. Gordon Chair in Industrial History of Texas and Director of the W. K. Gordon Center, appropriately located at the ghost town of Thurber, Texas. He supervised the development of the facility in addition to teaching a selection of distinctive and interactive courses on public history, Texas, and American history. In spite of his many responsibilities, he continued writing. He edited the never-published thesis of early Thurber historian Mary Jane Gentry, The Birth of Texas Ghost Town: Thurber, 1886-1933, to make both Ms. Gentry and her work more well known. By contrast, he explored the darker side of history by crafting A Gangster Tour of Texas focused on heinous criminals of the past. His first book on Route 66, Portrait of Route 66: Images from the Curt Teich Postcard Archives, revealed the rich source material in that collection. Meanwhile, he delighted in testing recipes and collecting cookbooks, photographs, and memorabilia for his deep dive into food culture, Eating Up Route 66: The Foodways on America’s Mother Road, released in 2022.

T. Lindsay made friends across the globe during research trips, conferences, consulting stops, living history events, and pleasure travel. He particularly enjoyed hiking the walking paths of England, but his wanderlust took him on wide-ranging adventures. With a broad smile, he enthusiastically shared his knowledge with thousands of students, scholars, hobbyists, and friends who shared his passions. He remembered the interests of others and would surprise them with an unexpected envelope or an email full of historical tidbits he thought they would appreciate. For this reason and many more, he is known for the kindness, generosity, positivity, and unlimited encouragement he gave freely.

This talented man shot and developed most of his own photographs and drafted carefully hand-drawn maps for his books. He also enjoyed driving his antique automobiles which he tinkered with, or had others tinker with, to make them roadworthy. His professional memberships included the Texas Institute of Letters, the Western Writers of America, and Texas State Historical Association among other organizations.

He resided on the Hill County farm acquired by his great grandparents in 1900. He fixed up the old homeplace, but the house remained much as his ancestors experienced it. When he married Julie P. Shaw in Cleburne on July 7, 1990, they made a happy life together on the farm. They generously shared their rural retreat with family and friends who fondly remember small casual visits and big, joyous holiday gatherings with this loving couple. When he retired from Tarleton in 2017, he embraced writing full time. At the time of his death, he was researching a forthcoming book on Route 66 in Texas.

T. Lindsay Baker is survived by his wife of 35 years, Julie P. Baker; sons, Jason Shaw and wife, Karen, and Adam Shaw and wife, Camille; grandchildren Jordyn Shaw Lee and husband, Scottie, Dallas Shaw and wife, Lexi, Harper, Waverley, and Baker Shaw, Kristin and Jonathan Waldrop; great-grandchildren Easton Lee and Sage Waldrop; and cousins Beth Miller Morgan, Leslie Milller, Stephen Miller, and Sherrianne Graf.

Memorials: In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Boy Scouts of America, Doctors Without Borders, or a charity of your choice.