Lake County Rodeo Association names Bob Anton 2021 grand marshal
- Lake County News reports
- Posted On
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Lake County Rodeo Association is marking its return this summer after a year off due to the pandemic, and it has named a longtime county resident as its 2021 grand marshal.
Robert “Bob” Anton will serve as grand marshal for the 91st annual rodeo, which takes place July 9 to 10 at the Lake County Fairgrounds in Lakeport.
Bob Anton is a fourth generation Lake County resident who will celebrate his 101st birthday on July 3.
His ancestors came to the Lakeport area in the early 1800s and settled on a 400-acre ranch in Scotts Valley. They built a home and for many years raised cattle, horses and sheep, and grew alfalfa, hops and later planted a beautiful pear orchard.
Bob’s parents, Inez and J.C., moved into town on North Main Street where he was born on July 3, 1920.
The small hospital is still there, now called the Lakeport English Inn, and his birth certificate hangs on the wall in one of the rooms.
The Anton house was located on the shores of Clear Lake where Bob spent a large amount of his growing up years in and on the waters either boating, fishing or swimming. As a young adult he had the fastest racing boat on the lake.
Bob’s other love was horses. When he was 5 or 6 years old his parents purchased a Shetland pony named Topsy. Bob was hooked. His mother had also been very interested in horses as a young lady. She taught Bob much about their care, and at 8 years old Bob was thrilled to get his first full-sized horse named Barney.
At 13 Bob was challenged to get a wild horse that Paul Kiel, who owned Saratoga Springs, brought from Arizona. Bob named the mare Snooks, and he broke and trained her for a few months before he and his parents realized she was pregnant.
Months later Snooks gave birth to a colt they named Smoke. Bob trained Smoke over the next few years, and now mother and son could ride mother and son horses together. In later years, Bob’s two children and his niece and nephew all rode Snooks in a drill team at the Lake County Fair, directed by retired Colonel Norris L’Abbe.
In 1939 Inez and Bob were members of a Lake County 16-member mounted quadrille team that often traveled to events with their square dance caller Pat Patterson.
This talented team was honored to be invited to perform for five days on Treasure Island at the 1939 World’s Fair. Both mother and son riders and mother and son horses shared this special memory. Bob still rides horses vicariously by watching horse races and rodeos on TV.
When he finished high school Bob went to Sacramento City College to study aeronautical engineering. After college he worked for three years at Lockheed Aircraft Production and Manufacturing, and then he joined the Army Air Corps. He taught navigation for night flying for two years in Valdosta, Georgia, and then in Enid, Oklahoma, with his beautiful new wife Janice.
After completing his time in the Army Air Corps, Bob and Jan were happy to move back to Lakeport where they raised their children, Lynda and Tom, now the fifth generation in Lake County.
Bob owned the Chevrolet dealership in Lakeport for 25 years. He then got his real estate license and started Anton Realty with his brother, Baird. He later became a real estate appraiser for the Veterans Affairs and continued this work until he was 80 years old.
He was a member of the Lakeport Rotary Club for 25 years and also served a year as president. Not one to sit around, Bob stayed very busy in his free time gardening, fishing, golfing, and traveling with Jan and friends to Mexico in their travel trailer.
Though Bob is 100 years old he still gardens, cuts up his own firewood, mows his three-acre property with his tractor, and goes fishing with his good friend Doug Patten.
He goes to the Howling Dog in Lakeport several times a week to have coffee with the “good ol’ boys” and he and his cat Finley drive to Chico every other week to be with his daughter and family.
Bob Anton is a friend to many and he is truly loved by all who know him.