After high school, he went into the Army and served 4 years. His last duty station was Fort Drum, New York. He was miserable in the cold & did not know how cold 30 degrees below zero could be! He had no clue that shoveling snow could be so back-breaking & often wore so many clothes that his arms stuck out at about a 45-degree angle! Though he did not see any action in the service, soldier Curtis still made a bargain with God: "if He would just get me back South I would never complain about the heat again."

Curtis went to college and majored in costume design and music and now works as a wedding planner: "I also do the flowers for many parties and weddings. There have been many weddings where I did the flowers, made the dresses, played the piano, made the cakes and catered the dinner."

He has been married for 22 years (yes, to the same person. "That is some kind of record for people in my generation") & has 4 children, ages 6 to 20.

Curtis has passion for reading & collects books. "I have never owned a book that I do not still own. I still have my childhood books that say, "See Spot Run" LOL. My 2-car garage has never seen a car. It is full of books--historical fiction, play scripts, mysteries, biographies, photo books, fashion books, costume design books, set design books, music, many different sets of encyclopedias, books on America and European history, etc, etc, etc."

According to his wife, he has many other obsessions -- err, collections, including vintage clothing (especially wedding dresses), vintage pictures, antique smoking pipes, cigar boxes and labels, Lladro porcelain,silver, Waterford crystal and ad prints.

In his spare time he enjoys knitting, sewing, watercolor painting, fishing and flower gardening. "I am not a person who can set and do nothing. Trying to watch a TV show is nerve-wracking for me. That is why I started knitting. It gives me something to do while setting around. I do get strange looks when I carry my knitting into places that I know I will be waiting for long periods (such as the doctor's office)."

Our guess is that his wife like his knitting -- if his hands are busy, he's likely not adding more books to the garage, or antique wedding dresses to the closet...

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