Frank Gierhart, a longtime supporter of Route 66 and former owner of a business on the Mother Road in Sapulpa, Oklahoma, died Thursday in Claremore, Oklahoma. He was 81.
Visitation is from 1 to 8 p.m. Sunday at Green Hill Funeral Home in Sapulpa, according to an obituary in the Tulsa World.
The funeral will be at 2 p.m. Monday at First Presbyterian Church in Sapulpa. Immediately after the service, there will be a celebration of life at Signs of the Times in Sapulpa. That’s the place a block north of Route 66 in downtown with the massive Gulf sign on its roof.
Gierhart co-owned Gabe’s Office Supply and The Frame Shoppe along Dewey Avenue (aka Route 66) in Sapulpa for decades. One of the buildings was a former newspaper office, for the Democrat News, which opened in 1931. Gierhart closed his frame shop in 2014.
Gierhart also was a longtime member of the Oklahoma Route 66 Association. As a business owner and resident of 66 (he lived in an apartment above his shop), he was happy to greet and talk to travelers on the Mother Road.
I have a 1930s poster print from the Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona that Gierhart framed for me about 15 years ago. The framing job seemed a little pricey at the time, but time has proven why it ended up being a good deal. It still looks as good as when I first took it home.
(Image of Frank Gierhart at his store via Facebook)
He was a great roadie and a good friend. A sometimes very fun game guy too. He was a huge supporter of the OK association.
When I worked for the Rail Haven in Springfield, Missouri, Frank and Laurel Kane were a major part of the pipeline that allowed me to keep Oklahoma Travel Guides stocked in the motel. I will never forget or ever be able to repay their kindness and willingness to meet me anytime, any place to pick up guides. They were roadies of a special breed that can never be replaced.