Douglas Curley Roberts

Douglas McDanal Roberts, better known as Curley, passed away on February 3, 2008, in Biloxi after a lengthy illness complicated by a riding accident in 1992. He was born in Gulfport and grew up participating in the TriState Rodeo Association as a bull rider and bareback rider in the early '50s. He won his first bull riding event in Picayune at the age of 15. He was an Alabama State Bullriding Champion, and a runner up in the Louisiana State champion bullrider. Like many rodeo competitors in the late and early '50-'60s he moved his tack to the bush tracks in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. He served his country for two years in the U.S. Army in Germany from 1963-1965. He traveled the Midwest Horse Racing Circuit including Fair Grounds, Hot Springs, Churchill, and the area Chicago tracks where he was a valet for Jockey Earlie Fires. He built, operated, and managed Yellow Jacket Farm in Kentwood, LA. In addition to being a gifted exercise rider, he was also a highly sought after farrier and leather craftsman. He is and will be sorely missed not only for his skills in the horse industry but his likeable personality, charm, and wit.
He was preceded in death by his father, James Wallace """"Shorty"""" Roberts and his uncle, Klight Roberts. He is survived by his mother, Sarah Alice McDanal Roberts of Jackson County; two sons, James Wallace Roberts II, and Weston Zane Roberts of Pauhuska, OK; daughters, Holley Roberts Christie of Biloxi and Rebecca Roberts Rodriquez of Pensacola; sisters, Roberta DuBose of Grand Junction, CO, Laneeta Cruthirds of the Latimer Community, Irene Delancey of Vancleave, Margaretann Klaver of Carthage, and Maureen Davis of College Station, TX; one grandson; and by numerous nieces and nephews.
Graveside Services will be at 3:00 p.m., Wednesday, February 6, 2008 at Magnolia Cemetery, River Road, Vancleave. Arrangements by the RIEMANN FAMILY FUNERAL HOME, 274 Beauvoir Rd., Biloxi. In lieu of flowers, family requests that well wishers go to www.riemannfamily.com and sign the guest book and write a favorite story about Curley.