About Us

Richard L. Cowan was working at the Texas Company (later, Texaco) refinery near Salem, IL, during WWII. On weekends he drove 50 miles to Olney, IL, where he worked with his brother-in-law, Bennie Schnepper, at a farm implement business, Farmers Equipment Company. In 1946 they added propane gas delivery as a service to their farming customers. Richard decided to work full-time in the business and moved his family (wife Marie, son Gary, daughter Dixie) to Olney in 1947.

The new company was named Blue Flame Gas. Its motto, and guiding principle, was "The firm that Service Built." Richard later bought Bennie's share of the business and managed and operated it until 1973, when Gary bought the business from Richard, Marie and Dixie. Richard enjoyed a long, happy life in Olney, where he died in 2004, just before his ninety-first birthday.

Blue Flame:The Studio inspired by Richard Cowan now is carried on. Our vision is to keep the  family motto "The firm that service built", it is also to keep the lines open to the creation, creators, and lover's of  art and music.  Reaching out  to everyone in all areas of the World. We believe that the hottest part of the flame is where ideas come to light. "The heart of the art" lives in  Blue Flame: The Studio.