Debra Whittington, the longtime co-owner of the Pony Soldier Motel in Tucumcari, New Mexico, and author of historical books about Tucumcari, died Monday after a lengthy illness. She was 61.
Whittington also co-owned the Dollhouse Bed & Breakfast in Tucumcari, a 1908 two-story Victorian home near downtown Tucumcari she and her husband, Mark, restored and opened to the public in 2017.
Her most recent book, “2 for $6 on Route 66,” published in 2016, detailed how Tucumcari developed into an overnight stop for travelers well before “Tucumcari Tonite!” became billboard buzzwords. A price war in the mid-1960s — not the interstate — drove many of Tucumcari’s old motor courts out of business.
She also used the book to tell many stories about what running a motel was like; she and her husband operated the Pony Soldier from 1976 to 2004. One section of the book described “Destructive Customers.” One family’s children set fire to a shower curtain, causing smoke damage to the room. Another time, a guest trashed a room with ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise and potato chips. An overnight guest flooded the room and stuck dozens of postage stamps all over the place. One time, a guest apparently held a cock fight in the room; it was littered with feathers and chicken excrement.
After its closing, the motel was torn down, although the Pony Soldier sign remains in storage in town. “2 for $6 on Route 66” remains as good of a book I’ve read about the hospitality industry. (Review is here.)
She wrote “In the Shadow of the Mountain: Living in Tucumcari,” which is as good of a history book about that town as you’ll find. She also wrote a daily devotional book, “Let’s Go to the Mountain” and a history of her local Baptist church. She once had a regular column in the Quay County Sun newspaper, based in Tucumcari.
Graveside services will be at 9 a.m. Thursday at Tucumcari Memorial Park Cemetery. A service of celebration will be conducted at 1 p.m. that day at her First Baptist Church in Tucumcari, with a reception afterward at her Dollhouse B&B.
(Image of Debra Whittington in 2016 via Facebook)
May she rest in peace. Only 61…a real shame.