Pat Smith, the director of the Oklahoma Route 66 Museum in Clinton, is retiring later this month after 30 years at the facility.
A going-away party will be hosted at the museum at 2229 W. Gary Blvd. (Route 66) at 3:30 p.m. on Oct. 29, announced Jim Ross, a longtime Route 66 historian.
The museum itself marked its 30th anniversary last month.
Smith was originally hired at the Western Trails Museum in Clinton in 1989. The facility transitioned into the Oklahoma Route 66 Museum in 1995, with noted Oklahoma architect Rand Elliott designing the new, $1.1 million building.
She became director of the museum in 1999, according to ROUTE magazine.
“Having the personal memories was a plus. It made it more exciting, having lived part of it [Route 66],” Smith reminisced. “My father passed away, and we moved to a farm between Clinton and Weatherford, and that’s where I had my memories of Route 66; it went right by our house. I remember it passing by so well, and I remember when they were building the interstate. I remember riding my bike down the hill where the drive-in theater is now in Weatherford.”
A few years ago, Smith gave a crew from Oklahoma Tourism a tour of the museum:
In Wheel Time interviewed Smith, who gave them a lot of valuable information about the historic highway:
(Image of Pat Smith at the Oklahoma Route 66 Museum via the National Trust for Historic Preservation)
Pat Smith, longtime director of the Route 66 Museum in Clinton, is one of the reasons I moved to Oklahoma. One of the kindest people I have ever met. She’s dedicated 3 decades to Route 66 Museum, the Mother Road community and the City of Clinton, Oklahoma. Pat, and her husband Virgil, deserve an awesome retirement but will be greatly missed.