Ramona Lehman, the owner of the historic Munger Moss Motel in Lebanon, Missouri, for more than a half-century, died Wednesday morning. She was 85.
Tributes to Lehman on social media began pouring in shortly after her death was announced:
Lehman had been in frail health after the death of her husband Bob in 2019. Early this year, she had been moved into an assisted-living facility.
Her daughter Shelly stated in a social media post on Tuesday that her mother had taken a turn for the worse and was being placed in comfort care.
About a week ago, Lehman was injured when a tow truck crashed into a vehicle she and Jess McEntire had been riding. McEntire tore knee ligaments, and Lehman was suffering from bleeding to the brain. McEntire had been helping run the Munger Moss for the past few weeks.
In February, it appeared a housing developer from Arkansas had purchased the motel, but that deal apparently fell through.
Lehman owned the Munger Moss for more than 50 years. She and Bob bought the Route 66 motel in June 1971.
Here’s a short video from about eight years ago of Lehman:
Anthony Arno also posted an hour-long 2021 interview of Lehman for his Route 66 Podcast:
The motel’s name came from a sandwich shop of the same name in nearby Devil’s Elbow, Missouri, built in 1936 by Nellie Munger and her husband, Emmitt Moss.
The building in Devil’s Elbow still is there as the Elbow Inn, though that property is closed while it undergoes renovations.
The couple relocated to Lebanon after U.S. 66 bypassed Devil’s Elbow, and they founded the Munger Moss Motel in 1946.
(Image of Ramona Lehman at the front desk of her Munger Moss Motel in Lebanon, Missouri, via Facebook)
Munger Moss has always been a clean and pleasant place to stay. I hope it doesn’t fall into the hands of foreign motel investors who won’t maintain it to the same high standard that Ramona did.
I’d love to see the famous “Munger Moss Motel” be purchased by a Route 66 enthusiast who will keep it beautifully maintained as Ramona & Bob Lehman did for 50 years. ARE YOU OUT THERE? Please step forward. Thank you very much.