Robert "Bo" C. Davis

Robert Carroll Davis was born in, and lived over half his life in Texas, but his life truly began and ended in his beloved Kentucky.  Bo was born to Morris Frazier and Helen Heickman Davis in Goose Creek (Baytown), Texas on October 27, 1940, and grew up in East Texas.  He graduated from French High School, in Beaumont and worked on multiple ranches in east Texas and western Louisiana until he took a job on the Fuchs Ranch outside of Wheelock.  Shortly after he moved to that community he met and married his wife of 23 years, Carolyn Joy Waight.  They settled in, bought property and lived in the Blackjack community, where they welcomed their daughter Rebecca Leigh (Becky).  However, the love of horses, and in particular, racehorses, became too great to deny.

For more than a decade, prior to the legalization of parimutuel racing in Texas, Bo and his family lived a very nomadic lifestyle as he pursued his dream of training racehorses.  This dream led them through Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and New Mexico.  There were many adventures and lifelong friends made along the way, and the joke can be made that he embraced the tiny house lifestyle long before it was “a thing”, as he fondly recalled traveling cross country in the family 5th wheel camper.  At his father’s request, he moved back to Texas and owned and operated an oilfield trucking company.  As always though, the love of horses was not to be denied.

Along with his dad who was in his care, Bo moved to Versailles, Kentucky in May of 1988, to take a job working for Overbrook Farm, where he would work until his retirement.  It was in these years that he found his greatest joy working with some of the best thoroughbred bloodstock of that time.  He delighted in the entire process of helping breed, foal, and watching the babies grow until they were either sold or moved onto training facilities, to become future champions.  His career was cut shorter than he would have preferred by the closing of the stallion farm and his own health issues.   He knew the pedigrees of horses more than he knew his own bloodline for a very long time.  He attempted to rectify this in his later years when he became very interested in, and proud of his genealogy and family lineage.

Bo was born in a time and a place where men were cut from a different cloth.  They were tough, resilient, independent and your handshake was your word.  He worked hard all his life to provide for himself and his family, never taking anything that he didn’t earn and striving to save all he could.  He was tough as boot leather, and it is that strength that helped him survive a complete aortic dissection that very few have survived, as well as two more subsequent heart surgeries over the past decade.   The last 12 years of his life were a gift and a blessing to him and to his loved ones.  The love he shared and the shenanigans he instigated during his last years will leave smiles on the hearts and faces of those who knew him forevermore.

His most recent health concerns threatened his independence and ability to continue to reside in Kentucky.  His earthly journey ended on January 19, 2025, where he was able to pass from this life into the next, in his own home, as he’d always hoped.  He was loved and will be missed by many.  He is survived by his daughter and son-in-law, Becky and Joe Ferrara, of Gause, Texas, his granddaughter and her husband, Sarah and Nathan Gawlik, of College Station, Texas, their sons, Roman, Tristan and Emerson Gawlik and his grandson Alex Ferrara, of Farmers Branch, Texas.  He is also survived by friends who were like family to him while living in Kentucky including, but not limited to, John and Becky Schaefer and family, Greg and Janie Blevins and family, Mike Webster and family, and Shelley Smoroske and Danny Long.  His family in Texas could not be more grateful for the love and compassion that his Kentucky family showered on him in their absence.  He was preceded in death by his parents Morris F. Davis and Helen Heickman Davis Seymour, his sister Jerri Ann Davis Maxwell, brother-in-law Donald A. Maxwell and his ex-wife Joy Davis.

Per his wishes, he will be buried in Keene, Kentucky, in the Spring when his family and friends are able to gather to celebrate his life.  The family asks that any memorials be made to the church or charity of your choice.

This obituary was lovingly submitted by Bo's family.  All arrangements are under the care of Hager & Cundiff Funeral Home, and we would like to express our deepest sympathy to the Davis family and friends.