Vincente M. Baca

Vincente Baca, Oldest Living Grad. of Notre Dame University, Dies Here

Vincente M. Baca, 89, resident of Niobrara County since 1916, and at the time of his death the oldest living graduate of Notre Dame University, died here Friday.

The body was taken to Denver where private funeral services were held Monday and burial was in Mount Olivet Cemetery.

Mr. Baca was a direct decendant of the early Spanish explorer Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca who landed in Florida in 1528 as treasurer of a Spanish expedition. In 1536 he crossed the continent to what is now California and then returned to Spain where he was granted extensive land grants in the territory that is now New Mexico. these he passed on to his sons and they remained in the family for several generations.

In 1936 the United States government struck a 50-cent coin in honor of de Vaca as among the first men to cross the continental United States.

Vincente Baca was born August 15, 1853, in Las Vegas, N.M. He received his primary and secondary education there. In 1869 he entered Notre Dame University and was graduated in 1873. During the administrations of Presidents Cleveland and Harrison he was in the diplomatic service, chiefly in Mexico.

Later he operated a sheep and wool business in New Mexico. In 1900 he went to Denver and engaged in the real estate business. He once owned the present site of the bus teminal there.

In 1916 he sold his Denver holdings and purchased the cattle ranch near Lusk now owned by Jim Hoblitt.

He is survived by five sons, Edmund and William of Albuquerque, N.M.; Edward, Horace and Alfred of Lusk, and a daughter, Elizabeth Baca of Los Angeles.

The Lusk Herald
August 10, 1972
From 30 Years Ago, August 13, 1942

Vincente M. Baca, 89, resident of Niobrara County since 1916 and at the time of his death the oldest living graduate of Notre Dame University, died here Friday

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