GAS STATION LEAVES HIGH OCTANE LEGACY

The Homan Oil Co. circa 1935. From the left are Vernon 'Bun' Homan, Jake Stanfill and Buck Kelley. The trucks were used to deliver gas to farmers, sawmills and highway department sheds throughout the area.

For the past 66 years the pumps never ran dry at Homan Oil Co. in Marquand. But on June 10, owner Vernon 'Tuck' Homan declared with a chuckle: "I'm out of gas!"

Homan, 62, has retired from the business that was started in 1929 by his father and uncle. Homan joined the Madison County enterprise at age 17, soon after graduating from Marquand High School.

He says he's pumped a lot of gas the past 45 years, and the oil company has furnished fuel for cars, trucks, tractors and sawmills throughout many area counties since the Great Depression.

Many members of the Homan family have been associated with what was probably the oldest gas station in Marquand, population about 300.

Homan joined the business when a brother quit; the brother later became a longtime postmaster in Marquand. Homan's sister, Katherine Venable of Marquand, helped with the paperwork at the business during its formative years.

Homan's daughter, Kathe Homan Wunnenberg of Phoenix, Ariz., would ride with her dad on "gas runs" when she was 3.

"He'd sit me on a big oil can so I could see as we drove through the country to deliver gas. Sometimes we'd stop and pick honeysuckle flowers, or visit an elderly couple in need of conversation," she said.

"One of my favorite memories is going to Bessville. While we waited for the gas to pump, he'd buy me chocolate soda from those old machines that had a lift-up top and were filled with ice.

"Dad would shake it up really good for me and we'd laugh when he opened it and he got sprayed.

"I still love the smell of gasoline because it reminds me of Homan Oil Co."

Homan's son, Danny, of Marquand, also remembers childhood gas runs. He remembers how his dad would fill a 5-gallon bucket with gas and keep track of how many gallons a customer bought by turning a dial on the back door of the delivery truck. In later years, he drove a truck for the business.

Dusty Homan, the teenage grandson of Tuck Homan, has had a "handle" on the gas pumps the past several years. He was happy to work at the station in return for cold sodas.

When Homan's father died in 1964, Homan and his brother-in-law, Floyd Whitener, became co-owners. Homan became sole owner in about 1978.

The early days

Katherine Venable says her father, E.A. Homan, and his brother, Vernon 'Bun' Homan, started the oil company with proceeds from an insurance policy they cashed in.

An uncle, Albert Collins, in Arcadia in Iron County had a Conoco dealership and he influenced the Homan brothers to start one in Marquand.

"Uncle Albert did all the paperwork and permits to get the business going," said Venable. "They probably didn't have to have much in permits then, but nowadays you almost need one to walk across the street."

The station was built in 1929 and it was operated by Bun Homan; E.A. Homan ran a general store next to it. Several employees were hired after the business secured a state highway contract.

Two 600-gallon trucks were used to deliver gas to highway department sheds as far south as Sikeston and Poplar Bluff.

Two years after the station was built there was a bank robbery in Marquand -- and E.A. Homan helped capture the robbers.

The date was Oct. 26, 1931, and E.A. Homan's father was the town's railroad depot agent. The depot agent, said Venable, "saw something at the bank and peeped in the windows and hollered at my dad who was at the store.

"They jumped in a car with another guy and ran the robbers off the road outside of town. They shot at Dad and nicked the windshield.

"Grandpa (the depot agent) held a gun on them and when he got home he found he didn't have a shell in that gun ... didn't know it was unloaded."

Back at the gas station, residents gathered to discuss the robbery attempt.

The station supplied gas, oil and kerosene to area residents and businesses throughout the 1930s and during World War II when gas was rationed. Flat tires could be fixed there and a lubrication service was provided, but major mechanical repairs were seldom done.

Tuck joins the company

"Everybody in town has a nickname, everybody," said Vernon 'Tuck' Homan. "I was called Dan till I got out of high school. I had a son named Danny so then people started calling me Tuck."

Homan's wife, Ida, elaborates:

"When he was a little boy there was a song about Old Dan Tucker and he used to tell everybody he was Old Dan Tucker. That's how it got started."

A gallon of gas sold for 18 cents when Homan started work at the oil company in 1950 when he was 17. Since a lot of area residents had coal oil lamps, kerosene was sold for 14 cents a gallon -- a gallon now costs $1.50.

The company's delivery trucks didn't have pumps because Homan's dad was "pretty tight." A gravity flow fed 5-gallon buckets used to dispense gas to farmers and sawmills. The company acquired its first pumper truck in about 1960.

Over the years Homan Oil Co. gave away calendars to its customers. They contained scenes of mountains, lakes, sometimes bathing suit-clad females.

"Everyone liked the calendars," said Homan, holding one dated 1945. "Some had pockets in them where people could put bills for th