About Norma

I am originally from McAllen, Texas, a Rio Grande Valley border town near the tip of Texas. My Mexican-American parents grew up during the Depression and wanted a better life for us than they had known. My father owned a grocery store, which was open seven days a week so he was often at the store. My mother stressed education as the great equalizer and it seems she got through to us, with all seven kids graduating from college.

Due to my interest in owning my own restaurant, upon high school graduation I enrolled in the Hilton School of Hotel and Restaurant Management at the University of Houston. I worked my way though college and managed to graduate despite never grasping Organic Chemistry or typing. I worked in the food service industry, specializing in event planning and serving as a Food and Beverage Manager at several operations. I moved to St. Louis in 1986 then went back for more education, graduating from St. Louis University School of Law in 1992.

In July 2006, I took my youngest son Caleb (then 7 years old) to see the Cars movie. We both loved it. Caleb loves to read and is interested in history. While still at the theater, he asked me for books on Route 66, and to be fair, also about NASCAR. I searched everywhere for a children’s book filled with facts about Route 66 and failed to find one. I decided to do the next best thing and read up on the subject then pass the information on to him. He later decided to have a Route 66/Cars/NASCAR party for his 8th birthday. The party was during a bad ice and snow storm but it was a lot of fun. I learned even more about Route 66 while planning the party.

As I read, I fell in love with Route 66, particularly the stories of hard-working families that were similar to those of my own parents. I noticed that for the St. Louis area, most of the books featured Ted Drewes, the Coral Court, the 66 Park-In Theatre, Red Cedar Inn and the Diamonds and rarely mentioned anything else. Realizing that there had to be a lot more information that remained unwritten, I set about researching Route 66 in the St. Louis area. During the process, I discovered that my first husband’s family, the Marets, were early settlers in Sunset Hills and several of his relatives owned early Route 66 businesses. In addition, I realized that Route 66 had been right under my nose after I moved here, just waiting for me to discover it. I failed to do so despite the fact that I worked at the Breckenridge Frontenac on the Bypass route and for the city of Crestwood, inspecting restaurants all along the Watson Road stretch of Route 66. My research resulted in Route 66 St. Louis: From the Bridges to the Diamonds. Working for eighteen months at every available moment, it was the longest research and writing project I have ever been involved in and, by far, the most rewarding. I then followed up with The Route 66 St. Louis Cookbook: The Mother Lode of Recipes from the Mother Road. The cookbook was published first.