Richard Warren Curtis, longtime Parsonian, died at age 97 at the St. Paul Prairie Mission Retirement Village on Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. He was born in a West Mineral house owned by his grandparents to Cecil and Ruth (Trudgeon) Curtis on Oct. 27, 1927.
In his words: “I was lucky – yup. I was lucky with the friends I had when I was young, Gene Costner and Donald Smith from West Mineral. And then I was lucky with friends I had when I was older, my brother Jack Curtis, Pete Hughes of Parsons and George Clark of McCune, as well as Lou and Marjane Wamsley.
I graduated in May 1945 from West Mineral High School and was drafted into the Army and sent to Luzon, Philippines, in January 1946. I went to the East Coast and shipped out of Newark, New Jersey, sailing through the Panama Canal (it’s real tiny!). I was mustered out in March 1947. The Army was a good experience for me!
“I attended Kansas State Teachers College in Pittsburg for four years and then worked around the area for P&M mining company and then BF Goodrich in Miami, Oklahoma.
“After the 1951 flood, Kansas Gas and Electric Co. needed workers to clean it up. I was hired and made $.73 per hour. I also started driving the red company bus to take workers to and from the plant. I drove it for nine years and that money paid for my house. I went to work as a lab assistant at KG&E for two years and helped set up the new gas-powered plant and became a plant technician. Russell Morgan, the superintendent who was from West Mineral, promoted me to plant engineer and then I became superintendent when he retired.
“When I retired, I became a full-time grandpa. I purchased an old Toyota van that we nicknamed the Seth Mobile, after one of my grandsons, and drove him around in it for 12 years.
“I accidentally met Thera Fraser at Rockaway Beach, Missouri, in 1953 and we were married in May 1954.”
From that union, three daughters were born, Karen Landrum (Rod), Paula Wyble and Jill Carter (Shawn); nine grandchildren, Ethan Adams (Desiree’), Evan Adams, Seth Adams, Christopher Landrum (Kendra), Patrick Landrum (Mersadies), Kelsey Wyble (Keith Brown), Quentin Wyble, Tiffany Oppelt (Peter) and Aidan Carter (Kelsey); and nine great-grandchildren, Sofia Adams, Brogan Adams, Marshall Adams, Harper Adams, Penelope Landrum, Olivia Landrum, Silas Landrum, Finn Oppelt and Curtis Ytuarte. He was very proud of his descendants.
He is also survived by his sister, Norma Gilmore of Pittsburg. He was preceded in death by his parents; and his brother, Jack Curtis.
His gifts as a dad were only outweighed by his devotion to his grandkids. He read hundreds of books aloud, led kids atop ponies for miles, headed up fishing and boating trips and gallivanted around the countryside with a truck full of kids.
He was a voracious reader and had an incredible memory. He could have a conversation with anyone as he never met a stranger.
You are invited to join his family at his little home that he loved so much at 516 S. 13th St., Parsons, for cookies and milk and reminiscing from 1 to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 28.
The family suggests donations to the Parsons Area Community Foundation (because his “good buddy Pete Hughes” helped to start it) or watch a sunset, take a stroll through nature or plant a tree.
Cremation arrangements are under the direction of Derfelt Funeral Home of Oswego.
