Ouachita County Louisiana Archives Obituaries.....CURTIS , RILEY HOWELL July 16, 2009 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Gina Brown http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00025.html#0006026 September 8, 2009, 3:44 am News Star World - July 18, 2009 RILEY HOWELL CURTIS Dignity Georgia Memorial Gardens Chapel, Marietta, GA Funeral services for Riley Howell Curtis, Jr., 84, of Smyrna, GA, will be held at 1:00 PM Sunday July 19, 2009, at the Dignity Georgia Memorial Gardens Chapel in Marietta, GA, with Rev. Jim Mitchell of Smyrna First United Methodist Church officiating. The burial will follow in the Georgia Memorial cemetery. Friends may visit Saturday, July 18 from 6 :00 PM until 8:00 PM at the Georgia Memorial Funeral Home. Services are under the direction of the Dignity Georgia Memorial Funeral Home. Mr. Curtis passed away quietly at Emory Adventist Hospital after a short illness surrounded by his family in Smyrna on Thursday, July 16, 2009. He was born in March of 1925 in Many, LA, the parish seat of Sabine Parish. His parents, Riley H. Curtis and Mae Russ Curtis, moved from the Many farm to Tallulah during the depression to find work. He spent his childhood to adulthood in Tallulah, LA, and graduated from high school there. His mother's family, the Russ Family, founded Ruston, LA in Lincoln Parish, now the home of Louisiana Tech University. Many of his extended family still reside in Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, and Georgia. In 1939, he landed a job with the Agricultural Adjustment Administration, and then started freshman year at LSU Monroe in 1941 in Chemical Engineering. He joined the United States Navy on his birthday, March 16, 1943. He became a Naval Air Force Cadet and trained at many locations across the United States, flying the Stearman Trainers and PBY Catalinas, the American flying boat. He loved flying and continued aviation as a hobby for the rest of his life. On September 26, 1945, he received his honorable discharge. He graduated from Louisiana State University, home of the Tigers, as a member of the Kappa Alpha Fraternity. He began work with Eastern Air Lines in May 1949 and later began a long time career with the Defense Department until his retirement. He was a delightful and charming storyteller in the Cajun tradition and well respected and loved by all who met and knew him. He self-published the Curtis and Russ Genealogy and was a prolific collector of Civil War guns and artifacts and an expert on Civil War history. He was a true "Southern Gentleman" and the last of a special generation whose creed was "God, Duty, Honor, Family and Country." We know that he has truly "crossed the river and is resting on the other side." He is survived by his children, Ramona Gay McCary, Tisa Curtis Wible, Riley Howell Curtis, III, and his step-grandson, Lewis Curtis. His wife, Betty Curtis, predeceased him. Georgia Memorial Park Funeral Home & Cemetery, 2000 Cobb Parkway S.E., Marietta, GA 30060 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/la/ouachita/obits/c/curtis551nob.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/lafiles/ File size: 3.4 Kb