The Wind in the Trees

There were many important families that established New Mexico and created the multi-cultural community that it is today. One of these, the Barker family, made significant contributions to the state in environmental, political, as well as literary areas. Elliott Barker is well known for his Forest Service and Game Department records as well as the stories of his exploits in the woods and mountains of the Pecos Wilderness. S. Omar Barker was widely acclaimed for his poetry and stories of the West. Charles Barker, a state legislator and mayor of Santa Fe, was the author of many of the early royalty and lease agreements between the State of New Mexico and the oil and gas industry. Grace Wilson, the youngest girl in the Barker family, made significant contributions as Superintendent of the Kirtland Central School District where a school is named after her. There is, however, a forgotten Barker, David Marion. David Marion Barker was the first of the Barkers to be born and raised in the mountains of Northern New Mexico. In 1917, when it was time to register for the draft for The Great War, he was asked this question: "Do you claim exemption from draft (specify grounds)." He answered: "None Whatsoever." What followed was a series of letters home from France one of which states, "I was unlucky enough to get a sniff of 'Jerry's' gas." Marion died in 1928 from lingering effects of that sniff. At the time of his death he was the Attorney for Farmington and, according to some, was being groomed to run for governor. What follows is years of uncertainty for his remaining family, but the mountains of Northern New Mexico provide a reprieve for his orphaned daughter Dorothy Alice. David McNeese is the grandson and namesake of David Marion Barker. Like Marion, David was born and raised in the mountains of Northern New Mexico. From the time of his birth until he was 16, every summer was spent in the Pecos Mountains, returning to his home in Los Alamos the day before school started in the fall. Without a maternal grandfather, David spent a good deal of his time with the remaining members of the Barker and Arnold families, in particular Elliott and Ethel, their children Roy and his family, and Dorothy Lois and her family. These events were friendly, lively, and enjoyable affairs that brought out many of the stories of the families that made up David's New Mexico ancestry. The crowning event of these relationships was when David and his father Wilbur McNeese participated in Elliott and Roy's last deer and elk hunts in the late 1960s. David is a Network Engineer at Los Alamos National Laboratory and has lived in Northern New Mexico all his life, with Santa Fe being his residence for the last ten years. In addition to his job in Los Alamos, David travels around the country teaching classes on various topics related to computer networks.