Curley Tomey was a chap-wearing, horse-riding,
harmonica-playing, crooning cowboy. As an artist, avid outdoorsman
and one of the last blacksmiths to grace the garlic city, his
nostalgic tale is bright spot in Gilroy lore. Full article
Today’s breaking news:
Morgan Hill presses on with fire study
Another ‘gutsy’ bank robbery
‘Alice in Wonderland Jr.’ comes to GHS
‘Tsunami’ of generosity
In a garage-turned-studio on a rainy Friday afternoon, dulcet Western ballads flowed from a small black radio as Carol Peters sat on a painted stool and flipped through a hardcover book.
Titled “Curley Tomey, Cowboy Artist,” Peters compiled the document showcasing the life and works of her late father.
“The detail is crazy good,” she said, pointing an acrylic nail to a photo of an engraved Zippo lighter.
Curley Tomey was a chap-wearing, horse-riding, harmonica-playing, crooning cowboy. As an artist, avid outdoorsman and one of the last blacksmiths to grace the garlic city, his nostalgic tale is bright spot in Gilroy lore.
“He was quite a guy … he was a funny guy. He had a lot of fun living – not a heathen – but he was a fun guy,” said Hubie Hoenck, 65, with a hearty laugh on the other end of the phone.
“He was my dad’s friend. In those days, that was the beginning of Gilroy, I guess,” Hoenck said, his voice trailing in memory.
Today, Tomey’s daughter is working to bring her father’s legacy back to life by cementing its place in history and sharing it with others.
Carol Peters is a former art teacher at Christopher High School, widely-recognized local artist and Gilroy Chamber of Commerce woman of the year. Her creations enliven the city, from the vibrant turquoise cougar mascot in the CHS lobby to the to the new façade on the former Leedo Gallery on Monterey Street.
Her personal project of cataloguing her father’s story, however, only recently catapulted into full swing.
After a series of emails from longtime Gilroy and Morgan Hill resident Tom Squeri – whose father knew Tomey well – Peters became fully sentient of her father’s artistic pedigree and the extent to which it’s still valued by others.
“I knew he could do the stuff,” she said, spreading out photographs of exquisitely engraved bits, spurs, saddle conchos, jewelry, knives, belt buckles and lighters. “I didn’t know how well known and respected he was as an artist.”
Born on Chittenden Road off Highway 101 before moving to Gilroy at age 13, Tomey worked long days as a welder to support his family of four.
After hours he retreated to his home workshop, assuming an alter ego as the town Picasso of all things metal.
“His belt buckles were in demand by the rodeo crowd,” Peters said.
Bow-legged bronco-riding champs far and wide, she recalled, would flock to Gilroy so Tomey could create custom additions for their belts.
“Kind of like this,” she said, indicating to her own leather belt, which sported a large, ornate metal buckle.
Whenever Tomey relaxed at the local tavern, she said, he’d whip out a pocket knife and whittle custom minimasterpieces on his buddies’ Zippo lighters.
This uncommon knack for transforming mundane gadgets into works of art wasn’t the only attribute Tomey had up his sleeve.
Besides sparkling blue eyes and the charisma of Roy Rogers, Peters described her father as handsome, humble, generous and enigmatic – often palling around with the game warden and helping stock streams with fish.
In addition to the fiddle and harmonica, Tomey played a steel guitar with a rattlesnake’s rattle on the inside – which he killed himself. Her father was someone who took the gallivanting cowboy profile right out of the 1800s and brought it to life in the 20th century, Peters said.
“My grandfather wore a suit,” she added with a playfully disapproving look. “No one rode around on a horse.”
Except for Tomey, that is, whose own mother used to joke he was born in the wrong era.
The fact Tomey had the same first name as Curley – a swooning, square dancing wrangler and leading man in the classic Western musical “Oklahoma” – is just uncanny coincidence.
“I don’t really want to see Gilroy get any bigger,” Tomey told the Dispatch in 1977 two weeks before he passed away from a brain aneurysm.
This was coming from a man who grew up in a time when sighting a Model T Ford was a noteworthy occasion, well before freeways ran through the Garlic Capital.
“Everybody used to know one another,” said Tomey during the interview. “Now, when I walk down Monterey Street I may not know a soul.”
By now Peters had risen from her seat and was pointing to various black and white photographs mounted on display boards. One showed a youthful, grinning Tomey leaning on a coral fence with a group of dapper-looking Levi-clad studs.
As she spoke of her father and his benevolence towards other people, it was evident her father’s sense of community is a pillar Peters still champions.
When patrons looking to commission Tomey’s work would visit her childhood home on Church Street, she remembered guests were welcomed with a glass of homemade red wine and warm hospitality.
“My mother was always cooking,” she said. “Then the guests would sing with my dad. They liked it there.”
Tomey still keeps good company postmortem.
A pair of lifelike cowboys stand side-by-side in Peters’ studio – one an acrylic portrait of Tomey perched on an easel; his piercing blue eyes sparkling from beneath the brim of a hat. Directly adjacent to Tomey’s portrait stands a life-sized, cardboard standup of “The Duke.”
Gazing at the two figures Peters recalled the Silver Spur and the Milias Hotel Restaurant Bar, both social hotspots in their heyday.
“John Wayne used to stop there, and he would call my dad up,” she said. “My dad would say, ‘John Wayne’s at the Silver Spur. I’m going to go down there.’ And mom would say, ‘are you sure, Curley?'”
Even in the 21st century, Tomey’s mark can still be found – on antique furniture, heirloom jewelry and the hides of cattle in Santa Clara County bearing his brand designs.
“Any available wall space in his workshop had a brand on it,” said Peters with a smile, shoving away books, papers and photos to reveal the antique table she salvaged from her father’s workshop, which was stamped with multiple brand insignias.
She said seeing Tomey’s works so widely respected and collected is an honor.
“It’s the proudest moment,” she said.
Other than when her children do something great, she quickly added with a sheepish grin.
“It’s just humbled me. It’s consumed me.”
A legacy of creation
After a 30-year career as an art instructor, “retirement” for Peters constitutes a relentless passion for illuminating the city through artistic expression. Her works brighten venues such as the Gilroy Museum, Gilroy Library, Willey House Cultural Center and Ascencion Solorsano Middle School.
Whether it’s compiling illustrations for the book “Images of Gilroy” or serving as chairwoman for the Arts and Culture Commission, life is an open palette.
“My son James is a graphic artist,” she pointed out. “Cowboy artist, traditional artist, computer artist – three generations, all different media.”
When she’s not working with acrylics or engrossed in a pending masterpiece, Peters is like Bob Ross from the Public Broadcasting Service show “Joy of Painting” – the Gilroy 2.0 version. She stars in her own TV series “Carol on Creativity,” an educational art show filmed in her home studio that airs on GavTV 18.
As for Curley, his daughter is ensuring the story of Gilroy’s charismatic cowboy artist stays earmarked in the city’s history pages.
Peters is currently working on a video documentary, has given a presentation on Tomey to the Gilroy Historical Society and has loaned his works to be on display at Gilroy City Hall. She’s also written a series of poems on her father, celebrating his life as she still vividly remembers it.
“I think art is a universal language. You don’t have to say anything when you look at this, it speaks for itself,” she said, motioning to a sprawling abstract painting hanging on the wall. Its base color was a vivid aquamarine with splashes of gold, purple and red lacing the surface.
“He can speak now, even though he’s been gone for 34 years. He’s talking to you, the love of our community and the surrounding area and the respect for the land and the wildlife and the people. When I think of him, I think of this joy.”
