Following an emotional Wednesday afternoon celebration, a stretch of familiar Cerulean Road will forever and always bear the name as the Sgt. Major Tony Baker Highway — honoring the late military and family man who was a proud 1986 Trigg County High School graduate.
Known as “Tater” by family and friends, the former Wildcat was a strong and reputable athlete in west Kentucky during his youthful days. He holds the school’s single-game football record for sacks with seven and excelled in other sports. And following graduation, he served in the United States Army for 30 years until his July 2016 retirement.
Stationed in Germany, Louisiana, Turkey, Oklahoma, Texas, Iraq and Fort Campbell, Baker held a number of serious positions — intelligence sergeant, senior missile handler, howitzer driver among them — and earned several prestigious awards, including the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart, the Meritorious Service Medal and the Army Commendation Medal.
In 2013, Baker and his wife, Linda, returned to their proud Cerulean stomping grounds, where he focused on farming and being close to his immediate family.
An unwelcome medical event took Baker this past March, and Linda noted there was a sense of “pride and peace” in this honor. Her husband is one of just a few African Americans in Trigg County’s current and former history to garner naming rights of any kind, and for it to happen so quickly after his passing only shows just how much Baker was respected in the community.
Tears in the corners of her eyes, Linda said the family will be forever moved when they drive through town.
Spanning all the way from Malcolm Sons Bridge to the 124/126 split, Linda noted it’s a stretch of road that Baker walked on a regular basis before his untimely death, and that his mother — Lillian — lived right in the middle.
Furthermore, Baker’s large family tree hails from all over west Kentucky and other parts of the eastern United States, and he maintained consistent contact with them over the years — many of them in the Cerulean area.
Wednesday afternoon brought some comfort with its sunshine and soft breeze, but Linda added there’s still difficulty in loss.
Of all the places she and Baker could’ve retired, Linda said Cerulean was always at the top of the list.
From signpost to signpost, the stretch of road is nearly a mile.
