Joseph "Cowboy Joe" Estrella Jr.

Joseph Estrella Jr., better known as Cowboy Joe…or Papa, passed away peacefully on Monday, August 26th, 2024. Our family is comforted by the thought that God called him to join his beloved wife, Ann, of 65+ years and son, Joe Jr., in Heaven. We are happy too that he is reunited with his brother Danny, whom he so loved and would share story after story of the great times they had together!

Joe was born and raised in the Santa Clara/San Jose area by his father, Joseph Estrella and stepmother Mary. Joe’s birth mother, Rose Lopez, passed when he was just 5 years old. He is survived by his daughter, Rosemary Vaughn and son-in law, Tim Vaughn, daughter JoAnn Estrella-Boyd and son-in-law, Brian Boyd. His loving grandchildren include Shannon Ficke, Jasmine Hawthorne, Jillianne Estrella, Jordan Boyd, Brandon Boyd, Christian Boyd and Skylar Vaughn. As well as his great grandchildren to include Michael Ficke, Gabriel Galindo, Ethan Ficke, Angeneva and Jojo Hawthorne and Landon Boyd. Joe is also survived by his younger sister, Darlene Sprajc.

Papa’s Portuguese family lived on a dairy farm in Santa Clara and had him working from an early age milking cows. Upon completing the 10th grade, he went to work for the Taormino‘s, an Italian family that owned a number of orchards in the Campbell area. He met his beautiful wife Ann Taormino, a 1955 Campbell High School graduate and married later that same year. They settled in on Latimer Avenue and started their family. Papa began working at Peninsula Creamery in Palo Alto as a warehouse man and later spent most of his 30+ year career in the ice cream plant…What a dream job!! This may be where he formed the love of eating ice cream drumsticks, sometimes two a day until his passing😊

As a family, we are grateful that our Papa lived his 91 years, happy, healthy and fairly active even after being mostly wheelchair bound a few years ago. He remained living in our family home on Kendra Way in San Jose where he was surrounded by several of the longtime loving neighbors, some from 50+ years! All that knew him, were drawn to his kind, gentle, and funny disposition…even our family dogs adored him wanting to sit near or on him! His grandsons joked that he still had “big muscles” even when he was 80 years old, clearly from many years of hard work to support our family…thank you dad!! He loved all things cowboys and could watch old westerns forever…At 85, coaxed by daughter Rosemary, he got his first and only tattoo on his left arm, “Cowboy Joe” under a pair of cowboy boots and hat! He also often wore funny t-shirts…the one that he so proudly sported during his 80’s was “Bald and Badass” strangers would stop him just to comment on…he loved it!! Together he and Ann enjoyed their later years spending time at their South Lake Tahoe house where they made a whole other group of lifelong friends. Neighbor 4th of July BBQ’s and slot machines…two of their favorite things!!

As we lay Papa, Cowboy Joe, to rest, he will never be forgotten as we have so many fond memories of time well spent together as a family. Holidays, boating, Tahoe, walking through the old neighborhood together or just chatting with him as he ate his other favorite treat, Tootsie Pops, he will always be remembered fondly by all who were blessed to know him.

Our family wants to extend a special thanks to Tema Kata and Ron Garcia, both were amazing care givers to our very special papa😊

In light of Joe’s love for dogs and theirs for him…Please make a donation to The American Society for the prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) at ASPCA.org in his honor.

Sincerely,

The Estrella, Boyd and Vaughn Families

A graveside service for Cowboy Joe will be held Friday, September 13, 2024 at 2:00 PM at St. Clare Chapel of Santa Clara Mission Cemetery, 490 Lincoln St, Santa Clara, CA 95050.