Jim Conard has donated his extensive collection of Texaco memorabilia to the Dobson Museum and Library of Miami, Okla., a block off Route 66.
According to the Chevron Retirees Association’s newsletter, Conard, who now lives near Atlanta, had quite a personal history with Route 66 in northwestern Oklahoma:
The display is in that locale because it’s where his father, Odell, owned and operated a Texaco station in the 1940s through 1960s and where Jim was born and worked as a teen and college student at his dad’s service station. It’s also where Jim attended college and taught for two years at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M. A regular service station customer was Mickey Mantle, the New York Yankee outfielder named to the Baseball Hall of Fame, who lived in nearby Commerce.
Conard says, “I could have sold my extensive Texaco memorabilia, a collection that spans decades, for quite a bit of money on eBay. Instead, I donated it to the Dobson Museum. Additionally, the collection was assembled with the aid of several former Texaco wholesalers. And Chevron Global Marketing provided a small grant to help me organize and initiate the project and Web site.”
The Web site for the Texaco display at the Dobson Museum is here. The museum is open from 1 to 4 p.m. on Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. The address is 110 A St. Southwest (map here).