Wes Curtis Rodeo Clown and Arties Dies at 88

Wes Curtis, age 88, PRCA rodeo clown from 1948 until 1968, died April 19th, in Sutherlin, Oregon. He was born to Ernest and Honor Leone Curtis in Denver, Colorado, March 16, 1921. Wes joined the Cowboy’s Turtle Association and was a lifetime member of the Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association (PRCA). He started his rodeo career riding in all three roughstock events. Wes served in the United States Navy from November, 1942 and was honorably discharged in September, 1946. In 1948 Wes became a rodeo clown and bullfighter. He had many acts and when he hung up his matador’s cape which he used when bullfighting it was 1968.

He worked as a Command Illustrator for Civil Service at North Island Naval Air Station in San Diego, California, until retirement. His cartoons and character drawings graced the pages of many rodeo periodicals including Hoofs & Horns and the Rodeo Sports News during the 1950s & 1960s. The Rodeo Clown Reunion is still using his humorous drawings. His self-portrait hung for years in the ProRodeo Hall of Fame. His artistic talent was not only in humor as he was commissioned to paint several portraits that hang in the Pentagon.

He was preceded in death by his wife of 55 years, Gayle Day Curtis, and his oldest daughter, Drusilla Froehlich. He is survived by his youngest daughter, Gayle Justine Jackson of Sutherlin, Oregon, and sister, Elizabeth Hamm of Wheat Ridge, Colorado, grandson, Charles Frederick Froehlich IV of Reno, Nevada, and various nieces and nephews. Private cremation services were held, Graveside inurnment services were held April 23 at Fair Oaks Cemetery in Sutherlin..