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"Bob" Waldmire-Route 66 Icon
By Alan Cohen Published: 08/25/2010
"He was one of the first people to recognize that the road not only needed to be preserved, but promoted," said Jerry McClanahan, author of the "EZ66 Guide for Travelers." And he did it through his art.
Growing up in the 1950’s, Waldmire would sit outside his parents' Springfield, Illinois drive-in restaurant, the Cozy Dog (a Route 66 landmark) and watch the cars go by. His father, Edwin, a former Air Force officer during World War II, invented the "hot dog on a stick" concept while in the service, which fast became the main draw at the Cozy Dog.
When the family took a road trip to California in 1962 via Route 66, Waldmire fell in love with the roadside motels, diners, neon signs and—more than anything else—the Southwest desert.
After Bob graduated from high school, all he wanted to do was travel on Route 66. A gifted illustrator, Waldmire found a way to support his lifestyle: He went to college towns drawing birds’-eye views that featured local businesses and landmarks. The businesses would then pay Bob to be included in the illustrations, making even more money selling his finished products. As time went on, he would turn his eye toward the landmarks of Route 66 as well as the plants and animals of the Southwest.
He drew many memorable icons on Route 66: motels (like the Wigwam Motel in Rialto, CA), restaurants (Steve's Cafe in Chenoa, IL), gas stations (Soulsby's Shell Station, Mt. Olive, IL), and even whole towns like Needles on the Arizona-California border. Bob also enjoyed drawing wildlife and inserted the images into his postcards and posters—mostly birds, many of them endangered or close to being so to this day.
While living in Arizona, Waldmire went completely “off the grid,” as they say. He cooked his meals with a solar oven, collected and stored rainwater when it fell, and dabbled in solar panels in order to be able to draw at night. His single-wide trailer sat on 40 acres of rocky land in the shadow of the Chiricahua Mountains in southeastern Arizona. Bob also had lived in a 1966 Chevy school bus equipped with a second deck constructed by Waldmire himself in Illinois in warmer months.
The honors Bob Waldmire had garnered over the years were substantial, but none more rewarding than receiving the 2004 John Steinbeck Award. The winners are selected from nominations made to the National Historic Route 66 Federation and the John Steinbeck Foundation. The recipient is chosen based on his or her work to preserve, restore and promote the legendary highway.
Robert “Bob” Waldmire died on December 16, 2009. Some of Bob’s historic work can be seen and purchased at www.bobwaldmire.com.
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