Ron Burden, one of the founders of the Oklahoma Route 66 Association and a former president of the group for four years, died Dec. 14. He was 72.
Burden, who grew up in Tulsa, spent much of his adult years in the Route 66 town of Davenport, Oklahoma, and co-founded the Central Oklahoma Federal Credit Union there in 1988. He also opened Marketplace Insurance Agency in Davenport, according to his obituary from Park Brothers Funeral Home in nearby Chandler, Oklahoma.
He also was involved in Davenport’s chamber of commerce, Lions Club, Pee Wee football teams, Boy Scouts, fair board, fire department and the Davenport First Presbyterian Church.
He served in the Oklahoma National Guard in the late 1960s and early ’70s.
He is survived by his wife, Sharon; one son, one brother and five grandchildren. His funeral was Monday, with burial in New Zion Cemetery in Chandler.
I found a 1993 article from The Oklahoman when Burden was president of the Oklahoma Route 66 Association. The newspaper was examining Route 66’s big issues — struggling businesses, a lack of a cohesive national group and suspicion of turning over too much of the historic road to federal jurisdiction.
“There are a lot of business persons along the route that are hurting right now,” says Ron Burden, president of the Oklahoma Route 66 Association. “They need the assistance. […] Burden and others say a national approach is clearly needed to end some of the confusion. But if government opens its wallet for preservation, it may want too much in return.
Many of the same problems continue to beset the road today.
(Image of Ron Burden via Parks Brothers Funeral Home)