Longtime Route 66 advocate Jane Dippel dies

Longtime Route 66 fan and advocate Jane Dippel of the St. Louis area has died, according to officers with the Route 66 Association of Missouri and alumni at her old high school.

According to a Facebook page devoted to graduates of Affton High School in the St. Louis suburb of Affton, Missouri, a celebration of life will be held in her honor from 2 to 7 p.m. Dec. 21 at Schrader Funeral Home on Manchester Road (old Route 66) in Ballwin, Missouri.

Kip Welborn of the association posted on Facebook she died early Sunday. Dippel had been in declining health. He wrote:

During her decades long love affair with Route 66, every individual that traveled it, and every individual that made Route 66 their home or their business address, knew they had a friend in Jane Dippel. In a world of self promotion and importance, Jane espoused the real words of Will Rogers: It is great to be great, but it is greater to be human. In just being Jane, she defined what it meant to be an “ambassador” for Route 66, tirelessly serving not only the Route 66 Association of Missouri, but every person you will find on every mile of Route 66 from Chicago to Los Angeles. And she did it with a smile that shows in every picture and you will always remember.
She was an active participant in the Route 66 Association of Missouri from the day she joined, serving on the Board of Directors for several years, and serving on every committee imaginable. She headed the Historic Preservation Committee, which has provided much needed assistance to those who have worked to save the icons you find along Route 66. So many places have benefited and will continue to benefit from her efforts. She has also served on several of the Motor Tour boards, and despite all the frustrations involved, kept serving on the Motor Tour Board. It needed to be done, and like the person she was, she did it. And every time she got in her car, Jane would conduct her own little motor tour taking maps and information about Route 66 in Missouri to give to travelers from this nation and around the world.
Jane will be missed, but Jane should be remembered as an inspiration for what all of us should be. The way Jane Dippel lived her life on Route 66 should be lived by all of us, and if we can do that, Route 66 will survive in the hearts and minds of every one who travels it and every one who lives on and relies on it. Thank you Jane, for being you, and for reminding us all that it is great to be great, but it is greater to be human.

Dippel at one point was so revered, she won what amounts to a lifetime achievement award at one of the big annual Route 66 gatherings in 2006.

Dippel also earned her own entry on the Women of the Mother Road website. It stated:

For over twenty years now, Jane Dippel has made an annual trip on Route 66 documenting her adventures and the state of the Mother Road in travel logs and photographs that have been shared with fellow travelers through the Missouri Route 66 and California Route 66 Association Magazines. Jane traces her love of the road all the way back to the late 1940s, when she and her siblings would walk over to a market called “Marty’s” in St. Louis which was situated on Route 66. They bought watermelon from a cooler out front and sat in the parking lot watching the travelers coming in and out, and checking out their license plates.   Jane has done trips on the Mother Road alone, trips accompanied by friends and many with her grandson. She is particularly fond of Santa Rosa, and when her grandson was young, they would always stop at the Blue Hole where he could take a break from the heat and swim. Looking through her travel logs these days, she mourns the places she’s visited that no longer exist or have fallen into disrepair and the friends she has lost.  However, there are new additions to the Mother Road that keep drawing her back, along with old friends to visit and new friends to make. Places like Pops in Arcadia, Oklahoma and the largest Rocking Chair in the U.S. in Fanning, Missouri are sites that continue the traditions of roadside Americana while adding vibrancy for new generations of visitors. 

I lived near St. Louis for almost a decade and often bumped into Dippel during formal and informal Route 66 gatherings. The thing I remember most about her is her laughter — lots and lots of laughter. And she adored telling stories about road trips with her grandson.

I also remember her specifically booking motels — the Pow Wow Inn in Tucumcari, New Mexico, and the late Zeno’s Motel and Steakhouse in Rolla, Missouri — because they had lounges where she could smoke and drink.

I’ll post more information on other services if and when I get them.

(Image of Jane Dippel courtesy of Kip Welborn)

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