"Page Pioneer" Tex Lucas & his son, Larry Lucas, PHS Class of 1962, with TEXACO gas pump (25 cents a gallon), remembering when Larry was 12 and "GERALD LUCAS" was emblazoned on the front of the TEXACO gas station Tex managed in Ash Fork, AZ (1956-1958 for 1-1/2 years) until TEXACO sent them to "America's Last Frontier" -- Page, Arizona, for Tex' even better job managing a bulk plant distribution center, and where he supplemented his income working swing shift for MCS (Merritt-Chapman & Scott) during the construction of Glen Canyon Dam, then went into business with Jack Moon, Moon Construction Co. (1961-1962) until Jack died of a heart attack in Page in 1964 and Tex moved to Phoenix to work construction there until he retired.

In 1956, the new TEXACO station was planned to capitalize on the Route 66 travelers, and the owner decided to erect a six-foot tall neon TEXACO sign on the roof of the station. It did the job--it was the first thing you saw glowing in the night approaching Ash Fork. Gerald's business arrangement was that the lease price for the station was simply two cents a gallon (pay two cents, and all the profit beyond that was Gerald's.) A motel room was $5 a night, and Gerald's wife, Inez, received a percentage. He and Inez cleared $46,000 the first year. That was certainly better than farming in Dalhart, TX! The 24-hour station was very successful, selling up to 8,000 gallons a day. Gerald said the highlight of running the business was repeat customers. "We provided good service. As soon as they drove up, we started washing their windshield. My son, Larry, who was 12 at the time, would stand on a wood crate to reach the windshield. Tex wore the spiffy Texaco uniform "except for the patent leather brimmed hat. I was a farm boy. I wore a cowboy hat. The district manager frowned on that, but he couldn't argue with success." Larry worked at the station for 50 cents an hour and all the Coke he could drink. Larry laughed as he recalled, "Dad renegotiated after my first day and decided if he was to stay in business, I could only have one Coke in the morning and one in the afternoon." Tex hired his brother, Edsel, two of Inez' nephews, Johnny & Bobby Wilson, and his good friend, Bill Bell (pictured with Tex in the garage doorway of the Texaco station), all from Dalhart, to help him at the station, and they stayed busy. Tex recalled, "When it snowed, we would load up a truck with snow chains and went out to find stuck Route 66 travelers between Ash Fork and Williams. $18 a set. Good money!"

Today, the building that housed "the first Texaco station in Arizona" on Lewis Avenue in Ash Fork is a real estate office; before that, it was DeSoto's Beauty & Barber Shop, with an old Chrysler DeSoto perched atop the building which dated back to the early 1960s.

Tex' wife, Inez, managed the McCoy Motel in Ash Fork, formerly the Al Smith Campground owned by Al Smith, whose ads for cattle & horse brands are featured in The Coconino Sun, Flagstaff, AZ from 1915-Nov 18, 1921, when Al Smith was associated with Ash Creek Cattle Company of Ash Fork, incorporated by A. Sanford, Pres. & Al Smith, Secy & Treas on Feb 22, 1918, for 25 yrs. Al Smith was also featured in "A RUGGED SON OF ARIZONA (AL SMITH, FOREMAN OF THE DOUBLE AA RANCH, ASH FORK, AZ) : THE SMOKE SIGNAL NO. 1" by Charles U. Pickrell. Charles U. Pickrell captured the indefinable, essential flavor of "Southwest" to perfection in his vignette of Al Smith, cowboy. Pickrell's memorial to a man and his horses records the trap-rock reality of range work with the sureness and accuracy of a Russell print. (There is a "Double AA Ranch Road" in Ash Fork, AZ, today.) The Al Smith Campground, with the landmark Santa Fe water tower in the background, which was built in the 1930s to accommodate tourists on Route 66 was later acquired by A. C. "Mac" McCoy, who changed the name to McCoy Motel. Mac also ran a small Texaco gas station dispensing Fire Chief gasoline. Coincidentally, he was also Ash Fork's fire chief. Mac passed away in 1955, before Tex and Inez and children arrived in 1956. The McCoy Motel became the Stagecoach Motel in the 1970s and was one of the few to survive the sharp decline in business when the Interstate 40 bypassed the town in 1979. After that, it housed Ruby's 8th Street Deli, 823 Park Avenue, Ash Fork, AZ.

"Page Pioneer" Gerald "Tex" Lucas, 96, died Saturday, August 9, 2014 in Dalhart, Texas. At 9:06 p.m. that night, his son, Larry Lucas, sent me a Facebook message that Tex had passed away "two hours ago" (so about 7 p.m. Texas time, or maybe my Eastern Time).

Gerald Corwin "Tex" Lucas was born July 13, 1918 in Boise City, OK to Clora C. and Zumie (Enlow) Lucas. He grew up on the Lucas Ranch near Boise City. Gerald was a custom farmer before moving to Arizona in 1956, where he was Owner/Operator of a Service Station and Motel on Route 66. Texaco moved him to Page, AZ, in 1958 to manage their bulk plant distribution center. While in Page, he became partners with Jack Moon of Moon Construction Company, and began a concrete business. He supplemented his wages by working Swing Shift for Merritt-Chapman & Scott during construction of the Glen Canyon Dam. In 1964 he moved to Phoenix, AZ, where he worked in construction until retiring in 1983. Mr. Lucas enjoyed being involved with his local neighborhood and community.

Mr. Lucas is survived by his son and daughter-in-law: Larry and Rita Lucas of Dalhart, TX; one brother – James "JC" Lucas (90) of Dalhart, TX, and three sisters – Rose Marie Combs (88) of Dalhart, TX, Kay Hume of Walsh, CO, and Reolla Benugli of Laredo, TX; two grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

Gerald was preceded in death by his parents, a daughter, his wife, Nancy Inez Lucas, one brother and six sisters.

"Page Pioneer" Tex Lucas (white hat) with his son, "Page Pioneer" Larry Lucas, PHS '62 (in dark cap) - probably taken in Dalhart, TX - posted March 2012, so taken before post.

"Page Pioneers" Tex Lucas (left) with his son, Larry Lucas, PHS '62, and holding his grandson, Shane Lucas', oldest son (Tex' great-grandson), Ashton, in 2004.

Tex returned to Dalhart in July 2011 from Phoenix to live with Larry and his family.

Tex grew up in Dalhart, Texas in a farming family and began riding horses the DAY HE WAS BORN. "It was July, and harvest time in Dalhart. Dad was away from home working in the fields. Mom was pregnant with me, and all of a sudden, she knew I was ready to get born. Mom decided to go over to a neighbor's house and climbed up on a pregnant mare, the only horse she had for the trip. Mom didn't make it to the neighbor's and laid down and gave birth to me right there on the ground. Meanwhile, that pregnant mare had a colt right there at the same time. Mom turned around, and with me and the colt, rode that mare back home with me in her arms."

"Page Pioneers" Tex Lucas (right, in white hat) in Phoenix, AZ, with long-time family friend and neighbor (both in Page & Phoenix), Michael Roy Peck, Page High School Class of 1961.

In 1956, Tex accepted an invitation to help a friend move to Flagstaff, Arizona; while there, he was recruited to manage a new Texaco gas station on the far eastern side of Ashfork, Arizona. Tex brought his wife, Inez, from Dalhart, TX, to Ashfork, where she found a job operating the 19-room McCoy Motel on Route 66. His son, Larry Lucas '62, was 12 and would stand on a wood crate to reach customers' windshields and wash them. Larry worked at the station for 50 cents an hour and a Coke in the morning and one in the afternoon. Tex wore the Texaco uniform, except for the patent leather brimmed hat. He wore his cowboy hat instead. Tex hired three relatives from Dalhart to help him at the station. When it snowed, they would load up a truck with snow chains and went out to find stuck Route 66 travelers between Ashfork and Williams, AZ @ $18 a set. "Good money!" he said.

Larry told about a time when Tex was a local hero. "One night we received a call about a rollover on 66. Dad went to the business next door who had a wrecker. He and the driver found the car and called an ambulance to take the injured woman driver to the hospital. They then towed the vehicle back to Ashfork. Later, a truck pulled into the station. The truck driver recognized the vehicle, and we started talking about the wreck. He recalled that he had encountered that car on the road and that there was a baby on the front seat with the mom. Dad and the wrecker driver raced back to the scene of the accident. Dad spotted a blanket about 50 ft. from the crash. He went to check it out and found the baby girl, still alive and well, bundled in the blanket, not crying and not making a sound. The mother recovered, but Dad never met her. She never came to see him."

Tex ran the station for about a year-and-a-half, but his success got the attention of the gasoline distributor, and he was offered an even better job managing a bulk plant distribution center in Page, Arizona.

In August or September 1958, Tex' wife, Inez, and children, Ann '60 & Larry '62, arrived in Page for the 1958-59 school year. During the six-month BIG STRIKE in Page (July 1, 1959 - CHRISTmas Eve 1959), the Lucas family moved to Flagstaff, AZ for the summer (June-August 1959). From there, they moved to Farmington, NM, for 3-4 mos. (Aug-Nov 1959) with Frazier-Davis, who were building a bridge there. From Nov 1959-May 1960, the Lucas family lived in Wellington, TX, where Tex managed/owned Mormon's Minerals (livestock feed & minerals), and that is where Ann Lucas '60 graduated from high school. The family moved back to Dalhart, TX, after Ann graduated. Inez' parents were old and feeble and she needed to return to Dalhart to care for them. Tex and Inez decided to separate, and he returned to Page in 1960. Inez, Ann & Larry didn't return to Arizona after that except for visits with Tex. Tex returned to Dalhart, TX, to visit every 3-4 months.

After Frazier Davis finished in 1960, Tex' job with Texaco was over, so he went into business from 1960-1962 with a divorced friend, Jack Moon of Moon Construction, who built a batch plant (near a pit and the trailer court on the hill). Before that, Jack had a ditching machine and dug all the ditches for all the pipes in the largest trailer court in the world in Page. Tex supplemented this income by working Swing Shift on the construction of Glen Canyon Dam for Merritt Chapman & Scott. After those two years, Jack Moon died of a heart attack in Page. Tex ran the batch plant alone for awhile until Jack's sister and her husband arrived from Tucumcari, NM (Jack's home) before relocating to Albuquerque, NM, and took over Moon Construction. Tex sold his interest to her; she only lasted in Jack's trailer about 2-3 weeks and sold Moon Construction to a man in Flagstaff, who also closed down the business soon after he bought it.

Tex continued to work for MCS, driving a truck from the river to the crusher from 1961 until the first part of 1963, when he moved to Phoenix and worked for a concrete company, running their batch plant for ten years. He was with the Operating Engineers Union, so he went wherever they sent him for work over the years after that.

The Lucas Family (9 girls, 3 boys) and their descendants had a family reunion every year. In 2009, it was held in Springfield, Colorado in a new hunting lodge, where they celebrated Virginia Lucas' 90th birthday. Virginia never married. She lived in a Senior Citizen complex in nearby Scottsdale, AZ, so she and Tex enjoyed going out to dinner together, etc. After Virginia's death on February 12, 2010, the family had a memorial service for her at the Family Reunion held June 26-27, 2010 in Dalhart, TX.

When Tex' sister, Loretta, asked Virginia if she had a message for her family and friends, she said, "Tell them that I love them."

Before Tex moved back to Dalhart, TX, to live with his son, Larry Lucas '62, he missed having his sister, Virginia, living in nearby Scottsdale. He would pick her up and take her to dinner, etc., but he still had close friends who he saw regularly: Mike Peck's daughter, Christy Brewer; Lynn Peck's widow, Helen; Dale & Pam Cobb (Maxine Peck babysat Pam at one time); plus his Hispanic neighbors regularly brought him meals that lasted 2-3 days.

At the time of this interview, besides Virginia, Tex had lost his youngest brother, Edsel, in 1969 and his youngest sister, Florence Combs, to cancer when only 60 or so years old.

Tex' wife, Nancy "Inez" Wilson Lucas, was originally from Spearman, TX. They were married the day after his 20th birthday -- July 14, 1938. They met after a land company built a hotel 30 miles from Dalhart, TX, from where they sold land to prospective customers who were housed in their hotel. When they finished selling all the land and the wind started blowing (sand hills 15 feet high in places), the people who had bought the land left the area in droves. Inez' family lived in the abandoned hotel, and Tex' family rented an experimental farm a half mile away. Inez died in October, 1987, at age 80 yrs, 10 mos, in Dalhart, TX.

Headstone Gerald Lucas