Harold F. Curtis, Jr.
Greenville Herald Banner
Saturday, Dec 16, 2006
Harold F. Curtis Jr., 75, of Greenville, passed away on Dec. 14, 2006, at Presbyterian Hospital of Greenville.
Funeral services are scheduled at 10:30 a.m. Monday, Dec. 18, 2006, at Ridgecrest Baptist Church, with Rev. Kevin Herbert officiating. A private family burial is at Forest Park Cemetery.
Visitation is from 3 to 5 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 17, 2006 at Coker-Mathews Funeral Home.
Mr. Curtis was born on Aug. 30, 1931, in Tyler to Harold F. Curtis Sr. and Leah Long. The family moved to Greenville in 1945.
Mr. Curtis graduated from Greenville High School in 1948. He then went to N.T.A.C., a military school which is now the University of Texas at Arlington. Mr. Curtis transferred to the University of Texas at Austin where he completed a BBA degree and started law school. In the middle of his mid-year at law school, his commission was called up and he left to do his service time as a military police officer in the United States Army.
Lt. Curtis married Carol Ann Fischer on Nov. 6, 1953, in Augusta, Ga. In January of 1954, he was detached to the Navy as a security officer on Eniwetok Atoll in the Marshall Islands for the hydrogen bomb tests. When he returned to the United States, they were stationed at Ft. Riley, Kans., making their home in Manhattan, Kan.
After completing his service obligation, he returned to law school at the University of Texas in 1955, interrupted briefly by his father’s illness when he came home to run Kincy Abstract for a time.
After finishing law school in 1957, he returned to his hometown to hang out his shingle to practice law. His first office was on the second floor of the Greenville National Exchange Building.
When L.L. Bowman Jr. went on the bench, Mr. Curtis acceded to his practice and had an office on the fifth floor of Citizens National Bank Building.
Mr. Curtis purchased the building on Washington Street in the 1950s and has maintained his practice in that location ever since.
Mr. Curtis was a charter member of Ridgecrest Baptist Church.
He is survived by his wife; a daughter, Leah Curtis Morris and her husband, Allen, all of Greenville; a brother, Thomas A. Curtis and his wife, Donna, of San Antonio; seven nieces and nephews; 13 great-nieces and nephews and five great-great- nieces and nephews. He is also survived by a host of friends here and throughout the state.
He was preceded in death by his daughter, Sara Allyson Curtis, on Nov. 16, 1966, and by his parents.
Pallbearers are Ivan Alexander Jr., George Ivan Alexander, Philip D. Alexander, J. Brad McCampbell, Charles T. Bridgman, William R. Crain Jr., Robert M. Crain, David F. Crain, Steven K. Crain and Jonathan B. Crain.
Honorary pallbearers are the members of the Fellowship Class at Ridgecrest Baptist Church and members of the Hunt County Bar Association.
Donations may be made to Ridgecrest Baptist Church Building Fund.
Coker-Mathews Funeral Home is in charge of funeral arrangements.
Submitted by Elaine Nall Bay
