TITLE: Ruth Alden Curtis, Obituary, Jan. 20, 2001 SUBMITTERS: Portsmouth Herald, http://www.seacoastonline.com 111 Maplewood Aveue, Portsmouth, NH (issue Jan 24, 2001 ) FORMATTED: by CParziale, 2001 ***************************************************************************** Ruth Alden Curtis GORHAM, Maine - Ruth Alden Curtis, 79, 11th generation descendant of Mayflower passenger John Alden, died Saturday, Jan. 20, 2001, at the Kennebunk Nursing Center, after optimistically fighting Alzheimer's disease and colon cancer. A Gorham, Maine native, she was valedictorian of her class at Gorham High School in 1938 and also Gorham Normal School in 1942, having skipped two grades. She taught elementary school in Sudbury and Boxford, Mass. In 1942 she married Portland-Munjoy Hill native Staton Russell Curtis, who served in a variety of capacities, including dean of student affairs and vice president of international affairs for 25 years at Boston University. As her husband visited schools all over Europe, Mrs. Curtis served as his administrative assistant. When Dean Curtis became the first to hold this position the university had 800 foreign students. The couple's groundwork together has led to more than 8,000 foreign students at the university today. They were married for 52 years until his death in 1995. She was successful during the 1950s and '60s at winning jingle and slogan-writing contests. A few of her prizes included a race horse, a trip to Florida, a five-appliance Hotpoint kitchen, a Howdy Doody jungle gym, roller skates, clock radios, electric can openers, a year's free supply of Burry cookies, Prince spaghetti and Wisk detergent. All product promotions today are sweepstakes because a few talented people began to dominate the contests. She inherited the diary of fifth-generation descendent Austin Alden, who lived during the American Revolution and served in the French and Indian War, receiving as payment the land grant in Gorham, Maine, where she was born. In high school she began work on a lifetime dream of having a transcription of the diary published, completing her work after her husband's retirement, and having the volume published in 1986. Her daughters and granddaughter all walked last fall in the Kennebunk Memory Walk that nationally raised $125,000 for Alzheimer's research. A voracious reader, she was also a stamp and coin collector, organic gardener, seamstress, enamelist, weaver, knitter, needleworker and photographer. She is survived by two daughters, Martha Curtis of Old Orchard Beach, Maine and Sharon Curtis Phelan of Kingston, N.H.; one brother, John Alden of Gorham, Maine; one sister, Ann Alden Kilgore of South Portland, Maine; and one granddaughter, Bethea Alden Phelan, of Kingston, N.H. CURTIS - Ruth Alden Curtis, 79, of Gorham, Maine, died Jan. 20, 2001. A memorial service will be held at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday at Exeter Congregational Church, 21 Front St., Exeter, N.H. A memorial service will be held at 2:30 p.m. on Friday at United Baptist Church, 318 Main St., Saco, Maine. Spring burial will be held at Pine Grove Cemetery in Falmouth, Maine. In lieu of flowers, donations in her memory may be made to The National Alzheimer's Foundation, Maine Chapter, 163 Lancaster St., Suite 160, Portland, ME 04101. **************************************************************************** * * * * Notice: Printing the files within by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all notices and submitter information is included. Any other use, including copying files to other sites requires permission from submitters PRIOR to uploading to any other sites. We encourage links to the state and county table of contents. * * * * The USGenWeb Project makes no claims or estimates of the validity of the information submitted and reminds you that each new piece of information must be researched and proved or disproved by weight of evidence. It is always best to consult the original material for verification.