John Calvin Womack, an Associate Professor of Architecture at OSU, will talk about Route 66 at the OSU Emeriti Association’s First Friday Dinner on Feb. 2. He is the author of “Once Upon a Highway: Route 66 in Oklahoma.”
An award-winning architect and artist, Womack serves as architectural consultant for Oklahoma’s State Historical Preservation Office. He has written over 100 commentaries on significant buildings in Oklahoma.
His 2004 National Endowment for the Arts research report on Price Tower, in Bartlesville, culminated in the total restoration of the Tower’s top three floors in 2006. Price Tower is the only skyscraper built by the legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright.
“Once Upon a Highway: Route 66 in Oklahoma.” was published by New Forums Press in April of 2006 as part of the Oklahoma Centennial Collectors Series. Since then, the book has received wide acclaim.
A reviewer on a Route 66 web site, wrote, “But what makes John Calvin Womack’s book special is he also shows everyday sights along the Mother Road in the Sooner State — a chat pile, barns, grain elevators, bridges (such as the Rock Creek Bridge near Sapulpa), railroad trestles and abandoned houses. It’s obvious he loves all facets of Route 66, not just the neat and pretty stuff.”
With written observations and more than 150 pen and ink drawings and watercolors, Womack’s book takes the reader on an inspiring trip down one of America’s most famous highways.
“Whatever their reasons,” Womack writes, ”it is a fact that people come from all over the world to find something on Route 66.”
The Emeriti First Friday Dinner begins at 6 p.m. in the Kerr-Drummond cafeteria on the OSU campus. For more information, call Sharon Brown, vice-president for activities, at 743-0153.
John Calvin Womack, an Associate Professor of Architecture at OSU, will talk about Route 66 at the OSU Emeriti Association’s First Friday Dinner on Feb. 2. He is the author of “Once Upon a Highway: Route 66 in Oklahoma.”