‘We couldn’t be more proud of Dad.’ Designer of Fort Worth dog train dies at 91.
Walter Virgil “Corky” Bostick, one of the creators of Fort Worth’s “dog train” — made to entertain the numerous stray dogs in his near downtown neighborhood — has died.
Bostick was 91.
Bostick died April 10 from natural causes in Fort Worth, where he and the Bostick family have lived for 80 years. Born in Vernon, Texas, Bostick was the oldest of four brothers. Two of his younger brothers have passed away.
Only baby brother Eugene Bostick, the 86-year-old conductor of the “dog train,” remains to operate one of the most wonderful creations in the canine world.
“He was the one who designed the seating for them,” Eugene Bostick said Tuesday from his home in southeast Fort Worth, referring to his brother Corky.
For those new to North Texas, the Fort Worth “dog train” is eight 55-gallon fiberglass barrels on utility dollies, hitched together and pulled by a riding mower or an all-terrain vehicle.
But before the Bostick brothers became known for the “dog train,” Corky Bostick had another life.
“He was the biggest and toughest older brother anyone could ever ask for,” Eugene Bostick said on Tuesday as he sat on a couch wearing his dog mask due to the coronavirus. He later took the mask off as he spoke fondly of his older brother.
Growing up in Fort Worth, Corky Bostick got married, had a daughter and became a firefighter with the Fort Worth Fire Department. At the time of his death, Corky Bostick was one of the oldest retired Fort Worth firefighters.
“I thought once he retired he wasn’t going to have anything to do,” his daughter, Debby Cooper of Greenwood, Mississippi, said on Tuesday in a telephone interview with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “That wasn’t the case. He was so handy that he had projects going on all the time.”
Corky Bostick’s home was a mecca for his creative ideas. His home, which was just a block from his brother Eugene Bostick’s house, contained everything from hand-carved and painted walking sticks, to railroad spike insects and carved and decorated emu eggs.
The brothers lived on more than 10 acres near downtown Fort Worth, and it was there where Corky Bostick also kept his collection of elephant statues, crystal balls, large boulders and cactus. Colorful statue dragons also can be seen in a pond near Corky Bostick’s home.
His property also had feeding stations for the dozens of raccoons, cats, ducks, turtles and other wildlife that made that part of Fort Worth their home.
So then it wasn’t surprising when Eugene Bostick had an idea on how to entertain the stray dogs that were being dumped in the brothers’ neighborhood and Corky Bostick was more than willing to help.
Years ago, Eugene Bostick had been using a utility trailer to haul the dogs around the property
Eugene Bostick got an idea for a change when he was out deer hunting with a friend.
“He [my friend] had one of those barrels and used it to haul rocks,” Eugene Bostick said in a 2015 interview with the Star-Telegram. “I had been using a trailer hooked up to my riding mower to take the dogs for a ride. I thought I could make cars for the dogs, put wheels on them and drive them around.”
Corky Bostick designed the seating, and it worked.
The Bosticks had plenty of room for the train tour on their more than 10 acres just north of the Sycamore Creek municipal golf course southeast of downtown Fort Worth.
In 2015, twice a week, with his brother’s help, Eugene Bostick cranked up his John Deere riding mower, uncovered the cars on the train and took his stray dogs on an hour-long ride. These days, Eugene Bostick has an all-terrain vehicle that pulls the train.
“Oh, they just love it,” Corky Bostick said in a 2015 interview.. “Every time he takes the covers off, they start jumping and barking, ready for the ride.”
The ride and the dogs became viral superstars. After a video appeared on BuzzFeed in 2015, the Bostick brothers and their dog train attracted thousands of views and calls from all over the country.
“We couldn’t be more proud of Dad and that dog train,” Corky’s daughter, Cooper, said.
These days, the “dog train” is taking a break.
“We get new strays all the time and I just haven’t trained them to sit in the train,” Eugene Bostick said. “But I plan to get right on that.”
As for his brother, Corky Bostick was a generous and kind man who enjoyed life and dogs.
“We believe he had finished all his projects,” his daughter said.
A memorial service will be held for Corky Bostick at a later date. His family asked any memorial gifts be made to a local humane society.
This story was originally published April 22, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
