Winslow is perhaps best known for its connection with show business – most people know the little Arizona town for its mention in The Eagles’ song ‘Take It Easy’. But almost a hundred years ago, Winslow had its own rising star in Leorena Shipley, a young actress who seemed destined for great things until one fateful day on a trip to the Petrified Forest.

Leorena was born in Iowa on 28 September, 1897, but her family moved to the West Coast when she was a teenager. Her father, Leo, was Chief Despatcher and Tram Master in Needles, California, before moving his family to Winslow in 1912 to take up a similar position for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad. Leorena, along with her older sister M’Dell and her much younger sibling Constance, settled in the Arizona town where Leorena was a popular student at Winslow High. In the ‘Impossibilities’ page of the 1915 Yearbook was an affectionate entry which read ‘For Leorena S to keep out of trouble’. That year she took part in several plays, one of which the reviewer claimed was ‘the best amateur production ever seen in Winslow’.

Upon graduation, Leorena – thanks to a Navajo Country Scholarshop – went to the University of Arizona where she starred in stage productions and gained her teaching certificate. With the Great War raging and her father serving in France, she returned home to Winslow and taught at the High School for two years. Then, she left to follow her dreams rather against her parents’ wishes (although, until her marriage to Leo, Della Shipley had, with her sisters Lulu and Nella, been part of the Smale Sisters Concert Company who performed all over Iowa and the Mid-West).

Leorena changed her name to Norma Deane and moved to Los Angeles, where she trained at the Martha Oatman School of Theater in Los Angeles and was its first student to become a professional actor, In 1923 she joined the Ralph Cloninger Players at the Wilkes Theatre in Salt Lake City where she was quickly promoted to second leading lady . She played vamps, comely wenches, charming lasses, drug users and, in October 1924, got her big chance when the company’s leading lady, Edythe Elliott, was taken ill and Leorena had to step into her roles at a moment’s notice.

After more than two years with the Utah repertory company, Leorena moved to the Belmont Players where she was appointed leading lady and she spent several months performing in Calgary, Canada. But, by September 1926, she was back in Winslow and preparing to sign a contract which would see her as the leading lady of the Grand Theatre in Phoenix. Her parents were proud of her success despite their initial reservations and welcomed her home, where she spent several days socialising.

On 11 September 1926, Leorena, her mother, her good friends May Ingledew (who had thrown a bridge party in Leorena’s honour just a few days previously) and Tug Wilson, made a trip to the Petrified Forest. At the end of the day they returned along a gravel road that would, just two months later, be named Route 66.

There had been a heavy rainstorm that afternoon and a concerned Leo and Vance Wilson, Tug’s brother, drove out to see if they could find them. To their relief, they met up with Leorena and her party just after the Cottonwood Wash Bridge at about 10pm and both cars turned for Winslow, with Vance Wilson in the lead. He crossed the bridge safely but, to his horror, when Vance looked back he saw his brother’s car fall backwards into the water. The road had been washed away leaving just a crust of paved surface which had given way beneath the second car.

The car was on its side in the water, almost totally submerged. Tug managed to struggle his way out and then, with the help of Leo, extricated Mrs Ingledew and Mrs Shipley.  But there was no sign of Leorena. Vance Wilson was lowered on a rope into the water but couldn’t find her. Finally it was decided to take the two women back to town and raise the alarm. Despite being soaked, bruised and cold, Tug Wilson stayed at the scene – preventing another car from plunging into the wash – until help arrived.

Scores of people were quick to turn out, some working around the clock to try and find Leorena. By now, with the car buried in 15 feet of water and quicksand, it was clear that they would not find her alive. Eventually, at 4pm the following day, they discovered her on the floor of the car; it was thought she had been knocked unconscious and then became wedged behind the steering column. It took another five hours to recover the body. Leorena Shipley was just 28 years old.

Her funeral was held on 15 September in the Washington School auditorium to accommodate all the mourners. Many Winslow businesses closed and Leorena’s coffin was carried by six young men she had taught at Winslow High School. She was laid to rest in the Desert View Cemetery, her coffin covered by American Beauty roses.

After her death, all of Leorena’s clothes, including many of her stage costumes, were packed away and remained unseen for decades. In 1970, when Leorena’s last surviving sister M’Dell died, they passed to M’Dell’s son Leo Dan ‘LD’ Welsh. LD had lived with his grandparents since he was a baby and grew up idolising his aunt Leorena. As a 14-year-old he had even taken part in the rescue efforts, diving into the water at the end of a rope. He and his wife Verna didn’t want the precious gowns to leave Winslow, so they eventually donated them to the Navajo County Historical Society and the clothes now form part of the collection of the Old Trails Museum where they are a beautiful if poignant glimpse of what might have been.