Those who have visited the remote Route 66 town of Oatman, Ariz., probably have seen the often-humorous Old West gunfighter shows along the town’s main drag.
According to the Mojave Daily News, one of those gunfighters was killed in an auto accident on Route 66 east of Kingman on Tuesday.
Irving Thomas Spence, 57, of Oatman, was a passenger in a pickup truck driven by Lonnie Burch, 63, of Golden Valley, that was struck head-on by a car that tried to pass another vehicle. Spence died; Burch was taken to a Flagstaff hospital.
Burch and Spence, members of the Bitter Creek Outlaw gunfighters group that holds gunfight shows in Oatman, were returning from the Grand Canyon Caverns to see if they could hold shows there, Spence’s wife Debbie Ward said.
Spence was a member of the Bitter Creek Outlaws for the last two years and a member of several other gunfighters groups in Oatman for five years. Originally from Virginia, he also took visitors on Jeep tours at the Custer State Park in South Dakota,Ward said.
Irving Thomas Spence is my dad. He is greatly missed. He loved doing his gunfights and that was his passion. He was such a great man that he will never be forgotten. I will continue to tell about his life to his wonderful grandchildren and anybody that likes good stories. I am his daughter Renee in Ohio. I love you dad and miss you.