An artist of Route 66 miniatures is dying, and Dries Bessels, chairman of the Dutch Route Association, is raising money so he can ship those miniatures to the United States.
Willem Bor of the Netherlands, who in recent years has made astonishing replicas of Route 66 landmarks, has been battling cancer for months.
In recent days, Bor’s illness was declared terminal, and Bessels said in a Facebook message Sunday that Bor has “mere days to live.”
Bessels has begun a fundraiser to ship some of Bor’s remaining Route 66 miniatures to the United States so they can be displayed in varying museums. Shipping the artwork is “very expensive,” he said, hence the fundraiser.
Bessels wrote:
We visited Willem and Monique today and found that he would love to see his models in the US in various museums along Route 66, something to remember him and his superior skills by. […]
Can you please share this message and if you can, donate a few dollars, Euro’s or whatever currency you might have lying around! I think we will need not much more than a few thousand dollars with which we can help Willem but also help various museums along the route.
People can send money to my Paypal account (dries(at)bessels(dot)org). If you want to donate but do not have Paypal let me know please on Dries(at)bessels(dot)org and we’ll work something out.
Bor also is a co-founder of the Dutch Route 66 Association and has traveled the Mother Road.
(Image of Willem Bor and two of his miniatures at the 2016 European Route 66 Festival)
thanks for sharing, it is soooo sad
Very sad news. Happy to send a little something to help with his dying wish.
Terrible. I wanted to get to meet him. I did get to see one of his replicas in the library at the Route 66 museum in Lebanon, MO.