Daughter revives Gary Turner’s Gay Parita station

Barbara Turner, Gay Parita station

The daughter of Gary Turner reopened the much-loved Gay Parita gas station west of Halltown, Missouri, 15 months after its patriarch died at age 70.

Barbara Turner moved into her father and mother’s home behind the Route 66 landmark less than two weeks ago. She quit her longtime job as a theater manager and sold her home in Charleston, South Carolina, so she could return to Missouri.

:”I wanted to carry on Mom and Dad’s legacy,” she said by phone from where her father in the early 2000s re-created a Sinclair gas station that stood on old Route 66 from 1930 to 1955. Gary Turner, with his wife Lena, then charmed thousands of Route 66 travelers for the next decade with their hospitality and homespun character.

“I want future generations to see what he did,” Barbara Turner continued. “When people come Barbara Turner with parentsto the station, I want them to know about my parents. He built this place from the ground up. This is what he wanted a 1930 station to look like.

“I felt it couldn’t die. I had to carry it on. And my dad would have done the same for me. I decided this was what I needed to do.”

She said Gay Parita won’t have full hours for a few more weeks because she’s still cleaning and sorting items there. She’s planning a grand opening in June or July, although she still is greeting tourists in the meantime.

“The word is spreading that I’m here, and lot of people have come here already because they’re so excited,” she said.

“Every day is getting better,” she added. “It’s coming to life again.”

She said she made up her mind to help her mother run Gay Parita after her father’s death in January 2015. But Lena’s health also declined, and she died at age 72 a few months later. Barbara Turner said it took time to sort out her parents’ estate (she now is sole owner of Gay Parita station) and organize the move from South Carolina.

He father was known for chatting with visitors from sunup to sundown. Many a Route 66 tourist often would find a planned 15-minute stop at Gary Turner’s Gay Parita station stretching to two to three hours.

Don’t expect Barbara Turner to be a taciturn new owner of the station.

“They call me ‘Little Gary’ because I talked all the time, like my Dad,” she said, laughing.

She said she expects Gay Parita to be largely the same, with one key difference — she’s planning a memorial garden for her father’s and mother’s cremains. She doesn’t have all the details worked out or even an exact location, except it would be someplace where the deceased Turners can “keep watch” over their station.

“I want it to be beautiful for the people who knew my Mom and Dad,” she said.

(Image of Barbara Turner at Gay Parita station by Tommy US Sixtysix via Facebook; image of Barbara Turner with Gary and Lena Turner circa 2010)

19 thoughts on “Daughter revives Gary Turner’s Gay Parita station

  1. this is awesome to hear the news of Gary’s daughter continuing his and her mom’s legacy. How nice for all !! Best wishes, Rich and the rest !!

  2. Oh my gosh, my husband and I would pop in to visit with Gary every now and then. Such a nice man, we would just chat away.
    Anxious to meet you.
    jodie

  3. Barbara, this is just awesome. We were great friends with your mom & dad. We miss them so much. We especially miss calling them or your dad would call us atleast once a month. Couldn’t have wanted or had better friends than both of them. Please email

  4. Thank you so much Barbara! I’m so glad you’re keeping the tradition alive. You won’t regret it I guarantee you. Hope to see you this summer.

  5. That is such a neat place. Glad to see it not turn into another abandoned Route 66 relic. Thank you, Barbara.

  6. Great news! Your Dad have my Dad and I a warm welcome as Canadian Route 66 travellers. Hope to meet you someday soon. Best wishes!

  7. How could I have lived in Springfield for 25 years and never heard of this even though I have driven this road several times.

  8. Very exciting news! I feared for the future of this attraction, and now can again plan on visiting it.

  9. My brother and I stopped there in 2013 was one of the highlights of our trip..stayed for 2 hours God Bless You

  10. Loved stopping by to visit on our trips to Chicago. Do we still get a free soda from the frig in the garage??? 🙂 Will be stop by next trip.

    1. Thank you so much! This is all for my Dad & mom. Yes still free sodas for everyone. Hope to see you all very soon.

  11. I live in Brisbane,Australia and have had the privilege of spending time chatting with Gary and Lena on 2 different occasions was sad to hear of there passing but am pleased to read the place will live on awesome will come back sometime and chat with you Barbara.

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