Helen Frances Schwenoha, co-founder of now-defunct but fondly remembered The Tropics restaurant in Lincoln, Illinois, died Feb. 28 at age 95 in Los Osos, California.
The San Luis Obispo Tribune published an obituary on Schwenoha on March 18.
Schwenoha was born in Augusta, Illinois, to John Bradford and Mary Grace Compton. She married Vincent John Schwenoha in Tennessee in 1942, where he was stationed in the Army. After the end of World War II, she and her husband started The Tropics restaurant in his home base of Lincoln in 1950 and ran it for several years, until the couple moved to Southern California.
She is survived by two sons, five grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
The Lincoln Courier added this part to its story about Schwenoha’s death:
Following her passing, a small family service was held in her honor in Los Osos. In lieu of flowers, the family asked that Helen be remembered by taking a few moments to write to a friend or call and visit a loved one, something Helen was well known for throughout her life, along with her amazing Lemon Meringue pies.
Vince Schwenoha once traveled to California and drew inspiration from its palm trees when he dreamed up of his business in Illinois and its iconic neon sign. Lew and Bev Johnson ran the restaurant for the next few decades. The restaurant went through a spate of closings and reopenings after Interstate 55 bypassed the town and closed for good in 2003.
The restaurant was torn down, but area preservationists saved the sign. Ace Sign Co. in nearby Springfield, Illinois, began restoring the sign last year after the Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program awarded a $17,000 cost-share grant for that purpose. The sign is slated to be reinstalled this year in a parking lot at a new McDonald’s restaurant where The Tropics stood.
In 2016, the Tropics was inducted into the Illinois Route 66 Hall of Fame.
(Image of The Tropics neon sign in Lincoln, Illinois, by Dennis Dixson via Flickr; image of Helen Schwenoha via Legacy.com)