Bill Carr (far right)
Bill Carr was born Doyle William Carr on August 21, 1907 in Georgia.  Like all young folks, he tried a multitude of things before focusing on his one true love, horses.  Over the years, he developed that love into an expertise with the manimals.  In the early years, Bill and family move to Bristol, TN where he would teach riding at Virginia Intermont College.  

In 1944, Pee Wee King and the Golden West Cowboys booked a show date in Bristol.  An arrangement was made for Bill and Pee Wee to meet for the purpose of showing Mr. King the horses Bill had trained as trick horses.  Mr. King was so impressed with what he saw that he hired Bill and his horse "Boots" to be part of his road unit and a new career was  born for Bill.  This turn of events precipitated a move to Goodlettsville, TN where the Carrs would live for the next 3 1/2 yrs.  Show business greats became close friends and "off the road" gatherings were commonplace where new music material was tried.  Bill Monroe, Cowboy Copas, Roy Acuff, Minnie Pearl, Grandpa Jones, Red Foley, Eddie Arnold, the list is endless...were all friends of the Carrs and at one time or another, were part of the road unit of Pee Wee King.  Mr. King launched the careers of many country/western stars.

When the association with Pee Wee Kind ended in the summer of 1947, Bill went with Col. Gatewood's Flying X Rodeo.  Also performing was Doug Autry, brother of Gene Autry and friend of Pee Wee King.  When the summer ended Bill changed jobs again.  He became horse trainer for the movie start, Tex Ritter, who owned the horse "White Flash".  Now the circle of friends included Smiley Burnette (side kick of Gene Autry), Little Beaver (Robert Blake), Tonto (Jay Silverheels), Tim Holt and Jimmy Wakley.

In 1949, Bill broke away from Tex Ritter for a season to go out on his own, then returning to Tex for another 8 months.  At the end of that 8 months, Bill was bone-tired after being on the road for so long, missed his family and wanted to go home to North Caronlina.  Over the following years, he played many show dates with his trick horses but he was  never "on the road" again.  By 1993, Bill was aging and his health failing.  He had been offered a job as horse consultant for the remake of the movie, "The Las of the Mohicans", filmed in Asheville, NC, but Bill could not accept  because of his health.  On December 25, 1993, Christmas Day, he died of a heart attack at the age of 91.  He is survived by a wife, Nell Steed Carr (still living in 2005 at the age of 98), a daughter Billie Carr Bocetti, a retired nurse, and a son, Donald Richard Carr, a retired airline pilot, 4 grandchildren and several great-grandchildren.

By Billie Carr Bocettie, daughter of Bill Carr
April 2005

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