Bettie Ditto, the former mayor of the Route 66 town of Tucumcari, N.M., and longtime owner of the Pow Wow Inn, died at age 91 on Saturday, reports the Quay County Sun.
She was so respected in the region, she was called “Mrs. Tucumcari.”
A former city commissioner and real estate developer, she is perhaps best known for building the Pow Wow Inn into one of the city’s focal points and a popular stop on historic Route 66.
She remained a driving force in the community well into her 80s. She was elected to the City Commission at 85. At 89, she was ambassador and volunteer at the Tucumcari/Quay County Chamber of Commerce.
And her influence went beyond the city as she was well known among lawmakers in Santa Fe and even Washington D.C.
“While serving as mayor for the city of Tucumcari, I would visit Santa Fe on business and Gov. Bill Richardson would always ask how his friend Bettie Ditto was doing,” Mayfield said.
And here’s her history in the Tucumcari lodging business:
Ditto was 39 when she came to Tucumcari from Chicago in 1955, she told the Quay County Sun in 2005.
She said she was not intending to stay when she inherited Route 66’s Lins Motor Lodge after her father’s death.
But nobody wanted to buy the motor lodge. So she transformed the nine-unit Lins into the sprawling Pow Wow Lodge and soon began rallying behind a bastion of community causes.
“We expanded from nine rooms to 90,” Ditto said, adding she could not have done anything without the support — and funds — from her business partner John Farrell. […]
Ditto said the motor lodge rapidly expanded, with the addition of a bowling alley in the early 1960s, a new 16-unit suite in 1975, and another series of units known as Pow Wow South.
The bowling alley became today’s Pow Wow West; the 16-unit suite became Pow Wow East; and the name Lins Motor Lodge became Pow Wow because of the many parties they threw.
“We used to have great parties,” Ditto said. “And when we had a party, we’d call it a pow wow. Everybody knew it by the Pow Wow so we changed the name. I even had a poodle I called Pow Wow.”
Here’s another story about Ditto from 2005.
UPDATE: Here’s the information on funeral arrangements:
At 7 p.m. Thursday a rosary will be recited at St. Anne’s Catholic Church in Tucumcari. At 2 p.m. Friday a Mass of Rescurrection will be celebrated at St. Anne’s. Burial will follow at Tucumcari Park Memorial Cemetery.
Sorry to hear about Bettie’s passing. There is a very good article about her and her life in the most recent issue of Route 66 Magazine (Winter 2007/2008). The article is entitled” Retired Tucumcari Innkeeper Remains Active at Age Ninety-One. It is on page 24 of this issue of the magazine.
Bettie was my grandmother. She was known as “Gronnie” to us. Our whole life has been filled with memories of her and the Pow Wow. What a great grandmother. As an adult and parent, I know what a caring and giving person she was. There have been so many people with kind and generous comments about her. The family is grateful for all that everyone has done.