Robert Frank Ashley, husband, father, and friend, was born in San Angelo, Texas, at Shannon Hospital on December 29, 1966, and entered eternity there on September 14, 2025, after his fight against cancer.

Visitation will be Saturday September 20th, from 5-7pm at Grimes Funeral Chapels.

Memorial service is set for Sunday September 21st at 3:00 at Grimes Funeral Chapels, followed by graveside service at Oak Rest Cemetery in Medina. Following graveside services will be a reception at the Medina Community Center.

The family wishes to express their deepest gratitude to Dr. Cooley and her staff, as well as the nurses and doctors of the 5th floor and ICU at Shannon, for the extraordinary care and compassion showed Robert during his illness.

Robert was greeted in heaven by his father, Bob Ashley, and sister, Kristina Carter. We like to think that after that greeting, he went straight to God's barn, sat down on a bucket, started picking out sheep, and began telling stories.

Robert spent his childhood in Medina, Texas, where he attended school, rodeoed, showed sheep, and lived the charmed life of a ranch kid - always outside, always up to mischief.

Robert's education was lifelong, beginning in the corrals as he toddled behind his father, Bob Ashley, and grandfather, James A. Gallant. Along with Medina ISD, the ranch was his classroom. He grew into a man who successfully carried forward a ranching legacy - a vocation that has become nearly impossible to sustain - with grit and determination.

The land was Robert's church. The pastures, hillsides, box canyons, and water holes were where he went to commune with God. When something weighed on his heart, he found comfort in the quiet of the pasture. Robert believed in Jesus and professed his faith to friends and family in his last days. Throughout his life he sang gospel hymns, Christmas songs, and even ''The Barney Song'' loudly - most of the time on key. In spite of the latter, we know he was heaven-bound.

Robert raised some of the most competitive show lambs in the region - blacks, crosses, finewools in the earlier days, and more recently, southdowns. While the ribbons, banners, and buckles they won were wonderful, what Robert cherished most were the friends and fellowship he found at stock shows and in the barn. Those families and the times they had were treasures to him.

Robert had a special heart for kids. If he knew of a child who needed encouragement, he didn't just talk about it - he took action. He would set them up with a lamb, teach them how to care for it, and show them what responsibility meant. He believed that raising an animal could teach a young person more about hard work, patience, and pride than almost anything else. Once they started, he never stopped cheering them on - at the barn, the stock show, and beyond. He was a surrogate dad to several kids, taking them fishing, on baseball road trips, and to stock shows, always finding room for them in his world.

Robert was tough on his own boys, raising them to face a world that isn't always easy - a world where it's good to smile and laugh, but where grit is often required. He loved those boys fiercely and was proud of them, even if he sometimes struggled to say it out loud. Everyone around him knew how proud he was because he bragged about them constantly.

At about twelve or thirteen, Robert faced one of the hardest days of his life when he lost his favorite horse, Concho, to a twisted gut. He and his dad rode Concho for hours in the river, tried everything they could, and finally took him to Dr. Nightingale's. As they passed the O.S.T., the rodeo crew standing outside saw Robert crying in the cab and followed them to the vet. There, they learned Concho couldn't be saved. Afterward, the crew returned to the O.S.T. with Robert and sat telling stories until Jay Shashawn put a quarter in the jukebox and played My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys. Robert only told that story a handful of times - and always with tears in his eyes.

Robert - affectionately ''Berto'' - is survived by his wife of 27 years, Neita Ashley, and by sons Austin Thomas, Ethan Ashley, and Seth Ashley, along with his ''adopted'' son, Cody Taylor. He leaves behind one beloved granddaughter, Sonora (Austin's daughter), whom he spoiled endlessly - providing her with ducks, dogs, and goldfish to feed in the water troughs. He is survived as well by his mother, Marilyn, and her husband, Tony Watson; brothers-in-law Brad Carter (and niece Sienna Kay Carter) and John Watson and family; aunt and uncle Pat and Jim Harvey; and many cousins from the Ashley, Gallant, and Harvey families. He is survived by his beloved English bulldog, Tillie.

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