Women working
New book ‘Aprons Away’ profiles women who worked on Route 66
By Tamara “Tammie” Browning
Author Cheryl Eichar Jett has focused on women workers on Route 66 in a promotion that’s taken her from the speaker’s bureau to a book.
Jett profiled several women who worked on Route 66 during the March 10, 2026, session on “Women’s Work on Route 66” in the “Celebrate and Learn! National Route 66 Centennial Speaker Series” that will take place each second Tuesday throughout the year.
Several women whom Jett talked about on March 10 are included in her newly released book “Aprons Away: Women’s Work on Route 66.”
The late Ruby Angel Denton is one who demands double attention.
Jett said during the speaker series that she couldn’t stop thinking about Denton.
Denton owned and operated from 1957 to 2002 the Golden Spread Grill on Route 66 in Groom, Texas, 45 miles east of Amarillo. Today, it’s known as The Grill at 407 E. Front St.
“Ruby had a reputation as being, let’s say, a little abrasive, maybe a little mannish,” Jett said during her talk. “I just love her. She’s just so sassy.”
Ruby was a good cook known for her vegetable soup, cornbread, barbecue, cinnamon rolls, pancakes and more.
“She made fresh pies daily with thick meringue on top,” Jett said.
Hundreds of women made names for themselves on Route 66, as Jett profiles in “Aprons Away.”
Women worked as architects, entrepreneurs, in public service, as artists, during World War II, in design and engineering and as documentarians.
Women made careers for themselves through restaurants, gasoline stations and lodging on Route 66, Jett writes.
The Golden Rule at the Golden Spread
The 100th anniversary of Route 66 in 2026 offers an opportunity to shine “extra light” on women who worked along the route, Jett writes.
Among women who “worked their magic as simply part of their daily lives” was Ruby Angel Denton.
Denton operated the Golden Spread Grill on Route 66 in Groom, Texas, for 45 years – from 1957 to 2002.
“She ran the place by her own set of rules – delicious home cooking, no liquor served or brought in, none of ‘them hippies’ allowed – but Ruby believed in civil rights, and people of color were welcome,” Jett writes.
Denton’s way of doing things was popular. For a while.
“When in 1980 Interstate 40 opened just a mile away, however, she witnessed the sudden drop in her business,” Jett writes. “For another 22 years, she hung on, serving the locals, the farmers who came to Groom to the grain elevators, and the occasional Route 66 tourist who found their way to the Golden Spread.”
Ola’s pumping gas
Ola Soulsby’s parents, Henry and Anna Soulsby, found a way to make a living during the “golden age” for small-time entrepreneurs by building a gasoline station on Route 66 in Mount Olive, Illinois, in 1926.
Ola Soulsby was 14 when Route 66 was designated in 1926.
“Ola watched her father and older brother, Russell, build a small filling station on their property next to Route 66 in Mt. Olive, Illinois,” Jett writes. “She helped out as much as she could, and it wasn’t long before she learned how to do the tasks Russell was doing. For the next 65 years, Ola pumped gas, checked oil, and looked for problems under the hood alongside her brother at the Soulsby Service Station.”
Although Interstate 55 replaced Route 66 in Illinois starting in the mid-1970s, the Soulsbys kept pumping gas until 1991. They continued to check oil, sell soda pop and greet Route 66 tourists.
Ola died in 1996 and the station was sold in 1997.
Today, the restored gas station at 710 W. 1st St. is a Route 66 roadside attraction in Mount Olive.
Matriarch of ‘home’
Lillian Redman became the matriarch of the Blue Swallow Motel at 815 E. Route 66 Boulevard in Tucumcari, New Mexico, after Floyd Redman gave it to her as an engagement present.
Lillian and Floyd were married in 1964.
“Together, the Blue Swallow was their home until Floyd died in 1973. Lillian stayed on for another 26 years,” Jett writes.
Lillian was known for her hospitality and graciousness.
“Lillian developed a reputation for giving travelers a place to stay even when they couldn’t pay,” Jett writes. “She wrote a prayer for her visitors, distributing it to each and every one: ‘We are all travelers. From birth till death. We travel between the eternities. May these days be pleasant for you, profitable for society, helpful for those you meet and a joy to those you know.’”
Jett’s passion to tell in more depth the stories of women along Route 66 is the impetus behind “Aprons Away: Women’s Work on Route 66.”
“This book is dedicated to all the women within it and to all the women of the route now and in the future – someone will tell your stories, too.”
FOR MORE INFORMATION
“Aprons Away: Women’s Work on Route 66” by Cheryl Eichar Jett
Softcover
224 pages
$24
Available from Reedy Press of St. Louis.
Road Rules – News, Events:
Pee-Paws Antique Maw in Fairmont City, Illinois, will host its first “Spring Pickin’ Festival” from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, May 16, 2026, at 5401 Collinsville Road in Fairmont City.
The festival will include yard sale vendors, small business vendors, thrifters, antiques, crafters, food trucks, dessert vendors and face painting for kids.
Pee-Paws Antique Maw is just off Route 66 and is the region’s newest destination antique and vendor market.
It’s open seven days a week.
For information, call 618-806-6798. Its Facebook page is here.
Route 66 Centennial 2026 Celebrations – Save the Dates:
The next Celebrate and Learn! National Route 66 Centennial Speaker Series will take place Tuesday, May 12, 2026, as it aims for every second Tuesday of each month during the centennial year (11 a.m. PT/12 p.m. MT/1 p.m. CT/2 p.m. ET).
Authors, historians, researchers and advocates will present stories and perspectives about Route 66.
For those unable to attend live, each session will be recorded and made available on YouTube.
The Tuesday, May 12, 2026, session will be on “Foodways on Route 66.”Historian T. Lindsay Baker will explore the diners, stands and supper clubs on Route 66.
For more information and to register, visit “Sessions Overview at-a-glance.”
Route of Tulsa’s World-Record Classic Car Parade, Saturday, May 30, Tulsa, Oklahoma, aims to be the world’s largest classic car parade, “with a goal of 3,000 classic cars cruising down 5.5 miles of the historic highway.”
To register, visit CapitalOfRoute66.com.
Route 66 SUBMERGED Boat Tour will take place Monday, June 1, through Friday, Oct. 2, 2026, at Lake Springfield Marina, 17 Waters Edge Boulevard, Springfield, Illinois. Hours will be 11:30 a.m., 1 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. Mondays and Fridays.
Route 66 SUBMERGED is a 45-minute interpretive boat tour on Lake Springfield that shows the surface, beneath which is a stretch of Springfield’s original Route 66 alignment. That alignment was submerged when Sugar Creek was dammed in 1933.
Free, advanced registrations are required. Space is limited.
Call 217-483-3625 for information. Or, click here.
The Texas Route 66 Festival, a ten-day celebration across 178 miles of Texas Route 66, from Shamrock to Adrian, will take place Thursday, June 4, through Saturday, June 13, 2026.
The festival’s days will feature parades, car shows, live music and more in towns from Shamrock to Adrian. The grand finale will be in the Amarillo Route 66 Historic District.
More information is here.
Only In Your State, the official publishing partner of the Route 66 Centennial, is offering a 2026 event calendar outlining planned celebrations for the centennial of Route 66.
The calendar is available here.