It’s the end of the road for Olga Herbert — at least for her long stint as Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor executive director.

Herbert, who has served in the position since the LHHC was created 25 years ago, is retiring at the end of October. Her successor will be Lauren Buches, currently executive director of the Latrobe Art Center.

“It wasn’t even really an organization when I was hired,” Herbert said.

At the time, former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge had designated the Lincoln Highway as one of the Commonwealth’s 12 Heritage Areas, “from Irwin to the York County line, 200 miles through six counties.”

Since the LHHC earned nonprofit status, Herbert has guided efforts to preserve and promote tourism along the highway, also known as Route 30. Projects have included Lincoln Highway road signs and educational projects, restoration of the iconic 1927 Coffee Pot in Bedford and creation of the Lincoln Highway Experience Museum in Unity, where the organization is headquartered.

The beginnings were humble, Herbert said. She set up her first office in her daughter’s bedroom after her daughter left for college.

“We’ve had nine different offices,” she said. “We’d be driving down the road and see a sign ‘for rent.’ If the rent was $50 cheaper, we’d say, ‘Get the U-Haul, we’re moving again.’

“I feel really good about leaving now,” she said. “The organization has come a long way, and it will be in good hands with Lauren.”

Roadside giants

Herbert said she’s especially proud of the Lincoln Highway Experience, which features both permanent and temporary highway-related exhibits, along with a tourist cabin from the 1930s and the restored Serro’s Diner, relocated from Irwin.

“We did all of the fundraising internally and designed all the exhibits,” she said.

Tribune-Review Patrons enjoy coffee and pie inside the restored Serro’s Diner during a 2018 visit to the Lincoln Highway Experience museum in Unity.  

The project she enjoyed most was Roadside Giants of the Lincoln Highway, which involved creation of five rusted metal sculptures fabricated by students at vocational centers along the route. Two of the sculptures are at home in Westmoreland County.

A 25-foot-tall gas pump on the museum grounds was created by students at Eastern Westmoreland Career and Technology Center. A Packard automobile fabricated at the Central Westmoreland center usually is parked outside the Westmoreland County Chamber of Commerce office in Hempfield. Ironically, it’s currently in the shop for repairs after being hit by a car.

“I loved working with the kids,” Herbert said. “One of them told me, ‘Miss Olga, if we weren’t doing this, our senior project would be a stool. Someday I’m going to drive by and tell my kids I helped make that.’”

Buches will split her time in October between the art center and the highway museum, training with Herbert before taking over on Nov. 1.

New challenge

A University of Pittsburgh graduate with degrees in history and journalism, Buches has worked at Westmoreland Heritage, Bushy Run Battlefield and the Carnegie Museum of Natural History.

“I value my time at the art center and I’m sad to leave, but my first real passion is history, so I’m excited to work in a museum again,” Buches said. “I’m eager for a new challenge.”

Tribune-Review Latrobe Art Center Executive Director Lauren Buches (left) will be succeeded by longtime staff member Joe Bellack as interim director, when she leaves for her new position as executive director of theLincoln Highway Heritage Corridor.  

Buches said she is most proud of having built up community partnerships and outreach programs during her two years at the center, including “Art Neighbors,” a joint annual exhibition with the Greensburg Art Center.

Latrobe Art Center board members are accepting resumes for a new executive director, said assistant director Joe Bellack, who will serve in the position in the interim.

“Lauren is not an easy person to replace and we’ll miss her, but we’re happy she’s staying in the neighborhood,” Bellack said. “We’re hoping for new collaborations between the art center and the Lincoln Highway Experience.”

As for Herbert, she’ll still be the road, as she and her husband Joe travel more to visit their five children — it just won’t be Route 30.

“There’s other roads out there besides the Lincoln Highway,” she said. “I feel good that more people know the Lincoln Highway is there than they did 25 years ago. It’s always been a runner-up to Route 66 — but not for long.”

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