They tried to keep it quiet, but word got out quickly. John Wayne was in Marion. THE John Wayne. Duke. Movie STAR John Wayne. Drawl and all. Handing out pre-printed “autographs.”
Wayne and four business associates flew from Chicago to the Williamson County Airport Thursday morning to check out the possibility of locating a coal gasification plant in Southern Illinois.
They met with Dee Rodd, a Marion real estate agent who took the group on a tour of area coal mines.
Wayne had asked Rodd in advance not to publicize his visit “so he wouldn’t be engulfed by crowds.”
However, a number of women were waiting outside the building at the airport where a final conference was being held before Wayne and the group departed at 2:45 p.m.
The women had pens and paper waiting to get Wayne’s autograph.
When he walked out the door, he said, “I’ve got them all ready, girls,” pulling from a pocket a fistful of prepared cards which said,” Good Luck, John Wayne.”
He dealt them out like cards without stopping on his way to the little plane.
A Wayne-size burp split the air.
When a reporter asked him what he was doing in Southern Illinois, Wayne put a hand on his back and pushed on to the plane talking about the coal to gas plant but making sure he wasn’t going to be stopped.
Wayne said the investors have built a prototype plant in California. The plant converts coal into methane gas with and oil byproduct.
He said they are checking possible places to locate the plant in the United States. The Marion area is the first the group visited.
“It looks like a pretty good place for the plant,” Wayne said.
The investors are seeking a location which would have a 5 million ton coal reserve, Rodd said. The plant needs no water and would not discharge any pollutants in violation of environmental regulations, he said.
The group was “just looking” Rodd said, and made no commitment about buying any property or possible location of the plant in the area. Rodd said the actual plant site would only require about 10 acres and is the least of worry.
Wayne had never seen a coal mine before. Rodd said he was quite interested in a strip mine operation and tool lengthy movies himself of the work.
Sam’s Notes: John Wayne was born Marion Robert Morrison; May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979.
(Southern Illinoisan, by O.R. Wiley of the Southern Illinoisan, Friday, July 11, 1975)