A Report on Harry Carey, Jr's Funeral

[Bob Boze Bell]

January 16, 2013

Last Saturday was the funeral for longtime Western actor Harry Carey, Jr. who died on December 27 at age 91. My good friend Brian Downes attended the service and sent me this report:

 

The service was January 12 at Trinity Episcopal Church in Santa Barbara where Dobe lived for the last decade or so.  The church was jam-packed with 300 of Dobe's family, friends and colleagues and fans.  Sitting close by were actors Robert Carradine who appeared with Dobe in "The Long Riders" and Claude Jarman Jr. who played John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara's son, Trooper Jefferson Yorke, in "Rio Grande."  (Jarman was the teenager who performed that outstanding Roman ride alongside Dobe and Ben Johnson.)  Also on hand was author Dan Ford, grandson of director John Ford, John Wayne's daughter, Melinda Munoz, and granddaughter Anita LaCava Swift.

Eulogies were short but most memorable to me was the full-throated organ playing "Shall we Gather by the River" Dobe's 'theme song' in "3 Godfathers."

I've known Dobe about 20 years since my days of writing westerns for the Chicago Tribune and was thrilled to have shared with him so many memorable events in his later life.  I rode alongside him on his last horseback trip to Monument Valley, was there when he was inducted into the Great Western Performers gallery at the Cowboy Hall of Fame and escorted him to the Reagan Presidential Library where he received the red carpet treatment at the museum's U.S.Cavalry: History and Hollywood Exhibit.

Dobe used to say he wanted his tombstone to read:  "He rode with the Duke."   Yes, he did, but that was just part of his story.

—Brian Downes

 

The Duke with Brian Downes

 

Brian is the director of the John Wayne Birthplace Museum in Winterset, Iowa.

 

“All battles are fought by scared men who'd rather be some place else.”

—John Wayne

 

 

[Bud "Marshal" Stilwell]

Awesome Report on Dobe.  RIP Dobe.  There will never be another actor like you.

[Jolene Little]

Dobe is gone in body but his spirit will live on in the movies we love so much.  God Bless and RIP Dobe.

[Sue Cauhape]

Agreed. Good report. My gosh, he's the last of the bunch, isn't he? Harry Morgan died last year at 96 (Yellow Sky, etc.) Dobe was such a part of my childhood, from Spin and Marty to the Ford movies. He was as ubiquitous as the Duke himself.

[Steven Wright]

Great report! He was always one of my favorite actors - especially when he was paired with "the Duke."

 

[Jim Holden]

Harry Carey Jr & Ben Johnson in "The Wagonmaster" is just one of my favorite films, and the passing of that generation of special "character actors" is really sad.  Those guys made a living bringing something extra to films, and directors like John Ford who used them were true artists.  RIP. 

[Robert R. Richter]

Aw  Geez...   Every few years...starting in around the mid too late 80's...  I'd find occasion to reflect and say...  "well...at least Harry Carey Jr. is still around..."  a guy who got to play cowboy so much...   he pretty much became one...  Despite being born with one boot in the stirrup...so to speak...  he earned his creds on his own dime... Yeah...  Spin and Marty...  that's where so many of us got to know him...  new member here...  this is the post that brought me in...   seems a good place to start...

[Sue Cauhape]

Welcome to the forum, Robert.

[Jim Hatzell]

Dobe was a real Gentleman and he will be missed.Nice to hear from Brian Downes....I used to email him a lot about local gangsters when he was living in Chicago.

[Bud "Marshal" Stilwell]

Welcome Robert to the True West Fourm.