REMEMBERING BOBBY KERR: A COWBOY WHO LEFT AN ENDURING MARK

Having worked with Bobby Kerr on quite a memorable photoshoot, our team was deeply saddened to learn of his passing, and Mitchell felt compelled to share a tribute to the kind of man Bobby was and the kind of impact he could leave in a single encounter.

Walking into the Cowpoke U photoshoot, I’ll admit I was uneasy. Nervous about capturing Cheryl’s vision. Nervous about the fickle weather. Nervous about whether this location was really going to work.

The day before the shoot, I drove out for one last scout. That’s when I first met him. A gruff cowboy, standing tall with an intensity that made me think he might just run me off his land. He carried that rugged air of someone who’d seen a lot, done a lot, and didn’t have much patience for nonsense. I walked away from that first encounter worried—not just about the photoshoot, but about whether we’d even be able to film what we needed.

Cheryl, ever the optimist, told me to “win him over with charm.” I remember thinking to myself, This is not a man I’m going to win over. Boy, was I wrong.

That initial hard edge was nothing more than the outer shell of a man whose heart was pure generosity. Once the ice broke, I discovered one of the kindest, most genuine, and most interesting cowboys I have ever met. And that cowboy was Bobby Kerr.

We were honored to photograph our Cowpoke U collection on his ranch outside Hico. If you don’t know much about Bobby, I encourage you to look him up—or revisit our past blog post from that shoot. He was one heck of a horseman, a showman, and a storyteller—the kind of cowboy they just don’t make anymore.

This week, the world lost Bobby Kerr far too soon.

There’s a verse in Proverbs that says, “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” I can’t pretend to have known Bobby well enough to say he sharpened me personally, but I know from the way others speak of him—and from the glimpse I was given—that he lived in a way that sharpened everyone around him. His example of hard work and devotion to the cowboy life left a mark far beyond his own circle.

So here’s to Bobby Kerr. May the pastures of Heaven be wide open, the horses strong and willing, and may the Good Lord greet him with the words every cowboy longs to hear: “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

Ride on, cowboy. We’ll see you down the trail.