Robert Eugene Carrere died peacefully on October 15, 2024, at his home in Oakdale, California, surrounded by family, one day short of his 91st birthday. Cowboy Bob, as he liked to be called, was born in Albany, California to his parents Frances and Florence (nee Pyne) Carrere. Bob spent much of his early years with his grandmother, Blanche Brodt (aka Gramma BB). When Bob was six years old, Frances remarried Jean (nee Compton) Carrere and they, along with his older brother John, moved to Oakdale. Bob attended Oakdale schools and excelled in track and football in high school. He served in the Army from 1953 to 1955 and, upon his return, courted and married Roxie Louise Bell in 1956. While working part time for the Southern Pacific Railroad and starting a family, he attended Modesto Junior College and then graduated from Sacramento State University in 1961. He started his career then with State Farm Insurance as an Agent in Sacramento and was promoted to Agency Manager two years later and moved his family to Oakland. His career with State Farm wrapped up with a 13-year stint as an Agent in Modesto, California before he retired in 1998.
Bob loved his hobbies. While living in the Bay Area, he was an avid sailor and boater, spending most weekends and summer vacations with his family and friends on the water somewhere along the California coast, San Francisco Bay or San Joaquin Delta aboard his beloved “Mystic.” After returning to his roots in Oakdale in 1987, he raised cattle, kept horses and found his next love – antique carriages. He collected and restored 35 of them and built a carriage house to showcase them. He was known to go through Hula’s drive-thru in Escalon, California with his horses and carriages. He also used them for weddings and funerals for friends and family and, generally, loved taking his “boys” out for rides around his neighborhood on Sutliff Avenue. Once harnessing and caring for the horses got to be too much, he pivoted to collecting and restoring antique cars. His hobbies were really a conduit for his true obsession which was people. He loved to make people laugh and to share a story – but mostly he liked spreading joy.
Bob was preceded in death by his brother, John, and is survived by his three children: Michele Hannigan (Patrick), Matthew Carrere (Cecile) and Krista Carrere; by his three grandchildren: Daniel Hannigan and Leah and Benjamin Carrere; by his brother, Don (Bonnie), two sisters, Carolyn Hoyum and Suzanne Breshears (Richard) and sister-in-law, Jan Carrere; and finally by his loving and caring wife of 68 years, Roxie, without whom none of this would have been possible.
We will be celebrating Bob’s life on Friday, Nov. 8 at the Oakdale Golf and Country Club from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. All friends and families are invited. If you could please RSVP to mattcarrere@yahoo.com with the number of people attending, the family would greatly appreciate it.
In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to Oakdale High School Athletics Program, 739 West G Street, Oakdale, CA, 95361, in the name of Cowboy Bob. He would like that because it would save on your taxes while spreading joy.
The Oakdale (Calif.) Leader
The Riverbank (Calif.) News
Oct. 23, 2024
