The Curtis Clan - Summer 2025
Summer Solstice to Fall Equinox
The summer began with Sage gatherings inspired by our nephew/cousin George's graduation festivities. The Curti hosted a fine gathering of the family for breakfast at Tuxelia taking the requisite group pictures.
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Sage FFF group
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And a pointer for funzies
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Randy went on a resrach trip that week to the regional archives in Fort Worth, giving Bethany an excuse to have her favorite meal at Dewey's (cheese pizza and Candied Walnut & Grape salad).
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Dewey'a cheese pizza, It's even better when you don't have to share
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Meanwhile on Thursday night, Randy celebrated a successful week of research with his teams which included a former VP of the St. Pats Board. You can take the boy out of Rolla but do you ever take the Rolla out of the boy?
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Randy reliving his youth
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That weekend the Curtri visited Sunset Hill's El Agave, which has become our go to sit down Mexican place after giving up on Chevy's
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Cas living her youth
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Jane joins the Work Force
On the Ides of June, Jane had her first day at Jacobs Engineering in Boston as a Structural Engineer. Their office is on the iconic Copley Square in the tallest building in New England, the John Hancock building in the Back Bay near the Boston Public Library and Trinity Church. Jacobs is a large firm and her specific office has contracts to provide engineering inspection services to the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) and Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT). They're a contractor acting as auxiliary agents of the local government. What this means for a junior level structural is conducting inspections of the tunnels and bridges across the state. Tunnel inspections require shutting down lanes so this occurs at night. As the low person in the pecking order this means early bird Jane gets an overnight shift about once a week or so, and then writing up the reports afterwards. This also involved her becoming familiar with the roads names and layout of the infamous Big Dig that buried the interstate highways in downtown and to Logan airport in the 1990s and early 2000s. Which led to her asking awkward questions like: Who is Ted Williams? (Hopefully not among the Bostonians. I guess it could be worse and she could have asked who Bobby Orr was). She is one of the only WPI grads working there as most of the engineers come from the nearby Northeastern University less than a mile away.
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Boston "bridge and tunnel girl" Jane in the Ted Williams Tunnel, who ever he was
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Jane has an easy commute on the MBTA commuter rail that goes out to Worcester. She catches it at the Natick station only a 7-minute walk from her apartment and gets off at the Copley Place station. She and one of her WPI Sorority sisters (Page) got a very nice, newly constructed apartment on the Natick Commons. The apartment windows overlooks the large green space in the city center, which is surrounded by small businesses, a couple churches, the public library and of course a community gazebo. Definite echoes of Stars Hallow even to the corner eatery at the end of her block with great coffee and regulars. Hopefully, this is the beginning of a rewarding career.
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Jane and Bethany at Natick Gazebo (in May)
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RnB at the Missouri History Museum catching Gay Pride exhibit on its last day
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But what about the dogs? They're in good hands.
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Echo Bluff
At the end of June and the first few days of July we joined a few of Randy's college pals and extra friends at Missouri State Parks flagship resort property, Echo Bluff. This was our fourth visit renting multi room cabins and sharing meals with the resulting gaggle of folks for good cheer.
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RnB outside of Echo Bluff SP
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On day two most of the gang went tubing Sinking Creek between the Echo Bluff Campground Road Bridge and the Current River (a short walk to put in with the inflated tubes and easy shuttle with them deflated). The water was high so the bottom dragging was minimal. RnB made a Salem Walmart run for medical supplies to treat Randy's slashed finger he incurred grabbing an errant soda can out of the river holding it on his finger. Really dumb. We also picked up a $1.99 Banana Rocket Whiskey from Dirt Cheap which was a crowd pleaser of sketchy liquor choices and immaturity. That evening we did make your own Burritos night and taught half the gang to play Celebratory before watching a movie under the stars courtesy of Steve Swaine: Cabin in the Woods. A better then expected horror shock film with some nudity and many misogynistic themes of the genre.
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Cheap, cheap. Fun, fun.
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| Anthony tubing toward THE Echo Bluff |
Gang enjoying a movie under the stars |
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Echo Bluff Day 3 - following a yummy spinach quiche breakfast, most of the crowd choose floating the Current Rive as the main day time activity. We were pleased to have the comfortable accommodations to ourselves and enjoy leisure time away from the responsibilities of home, until Randy told Steve about the salvage yard outside of Salem and another side quest began. That evening was Make your own Potato night; more Celebratory and watching Princess Bride outside. A good mini-vacation.
| Repainted $15 Burn Barrels from an unknown previous use (Returning to an America before the Clean Air Act?) |
Steve with his treasure |
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4th of July Parade
For the WG 4th of July parade, Cas and Makenna rode in the back of John Liss's M715 Jeep as I drove. Humorously, the Webster PD used a 2017 picture regarding chairs on the parade route featuring Jane marching from the YMCA back to WGHS with her classmates that was on the cover of the STL Post-Dispatch at the time.
| Randy, Cas and Makena ready for the parade |
Remember: elbow, elbow, wrist, wrist, wrist |
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Parade line up for the military vehcile groups
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For Bingley's first Birthday, the dogs got frozen treats but on the whole we made less of a fuss than we were expecting.
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The WG PD used Webster Kirkwod Times picture from 5 years earlier illustrating the chairs lined up. Jane is 7th from the left
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The next day, we replaced the kitchen faucet which took: 6+ hours, 5 drenched towels, 3 trips to the hardware store, a few dozen flights of stairs to turn the water off and on in at the inlet. The cause? After much ado it was determined to be 2 deteriorated 36 cent washers for the supply line shut of valves under the sink that limited the flow in the sink for months before the faucet finally failed. Moral of the story: ball valves. More expensive initially but in the long run better. Super cute helper and inspector though.
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Bingley helping the plumbing project
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The next week, we had dinner at Rigazzi's with the Kennedy's and Burks. Rigazzi's was crazy busy and they put us in the jersey room upstairs away from anyone else. We ended up staying 3+ hours.
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Tuxedo neighbors enjoy Rigazzis
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Townie Sage Sibling lunch at the Village Bar
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The Curtri saw St. Lous's own James Gunn Superman opening week, at the Chase Park Plaza - You'll believe a dog can fly (with apologies to the original 1978 Superman tagline that "You'll believe a man can fly")
| Curtri wait for the Man of Steel |
Special STL Superman Ad |
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Lunch out with Randy's work team at the Broadway Oyster Bar.
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The second weekend of July, STL Cinema presented the first Hi Pointe Yearnfest of romance dramas. The main show on Saturday night was the 2005 Pride and Prejudice, which was packed. Complimentary signature drinks will do that. So fun and the film was so much better in person than DVD at home. Pictures are from the HiPointe's media page.
| Line for a complimentary beverage (RnB seated near front, look for bald spot) |
Cas and Randy in 4th row |
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Later that week, RnB returned to the Hi Pointe for Stanley Kubrick's Lolita. Brilliant for the time but so much was implied. James Mason was terrific in a very difficult role for anyone to have any empathy for. It was interesting that this screening coincided with the top national news story of being the Epstein client list not being released. Epstein's plane was named the Lolita Express which is far more explicit than the film was.
| Cas and friends at someone's Bday party |
Orianna, Cas, and Luke |
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Jane and friends enjoying Boston
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Jane donates Blood Stem Cells
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The third week of July, Jane flew to Houston courtesy of the NMDP (National Marrow Donor Program, aka Be The Match, https://www.nmdp.org/) in order to make blood stem cell donation. She got matched before graduation, having swabbed a year ago at WPI, getting a snow cone for doing so. 4 days leading up to her donation, she got injections with meds to stimulate cell production. Randy flew down too as her designated support giver. The apheresis (non-surgical.) procedure was like donating for plasma or platelets. It took 4+ hours on the machine, sitting in relative comfort until she needed the restroom... Although there wasn't the pain of bone marrow extraction, she was exhausted (no NASA Space Center visit in the cards as was considered at the 2-hour point). A long nap, Tylenol, grilled cheese, fries and a monster shake later made a huge difference in her sense of wellbeing. Early bedtimes the next few nights though.
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All done in just over 4 hours
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Randy returned with Jane to Boston just in case she needed help; happily this proved to be an unneeded precaution. Randy had a buffer day before his return flight to St Louis as Jane was good to go back to work having just started her career. So what to do with the use of her convertible on a beautiful summer day in New England on his natal day? Road trip with the top down to Maine for lunch for a large sea bug in butter . Took in some coastal FUDS for the busman's holiday (Fort McClary at Kittery Point). We had dinner at Margaritta's in Natick. Randy got to explore the Back Bay a bit the next morning before his return flight to STL.
| Jane and Randy driving around Natick Commons |
Magaritas seem to be a theme this quarter |
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| Randy joy riding in the convertible |
Randy about to enjoy boiled sea bug at Newick outside Dover/Portsmouth, NH |
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RnJ ridding the commuter rail
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Bingley's First Haircut
Back home, Bingley got her first haircut for the summer heat. A bit controversial among the Caviler crowd with some believing it's unneeded (and disgraceful among the judgy). We've found it makes them feel free and enlivened with a return to their “puppy” playfulness (not to mention it's super cute and sassy).
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After |
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As part of the 250th Birthday of Jane (Austen), we had tickets to the musical Austen's Pride at Stages courtesy of Cas. It was better than expected in all aspects. Bethany opined: “Austen's PRIDE" is one of the best live theater musicals I've seen! Not to be missed ... this one WILL definitely make it to Broadway -- spot on staging, choreography, and those VOICES!!”
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At Austens Pride at Stages
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Bethany and Cas at Serendipity
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Early August had us at another protest on Lindbergh outside Ronnie's with Bethany, Lisa, Adeline and Robyn. We lunched at Fitz's afterwards consuming numerous mugs of root beer (free refills - yummo).
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Pizza Passport Tourism - Hops Keller in Waterloo, Il
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Jane celebrated her birthday away from home but 23 looks good on her.
Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW or BWCA)
Back in the Heartland, Randy celebrated by heading to the BWCA, which falls under the category of Doing Things My Spouse Has Zero Desire To Do* - Trip Category
BWCA is a million acres plus reserve of pristine forests, glacial lakes, and streams in the Superior National Forest in northern Minnesota, abutting a similar Canadian preserve (Quetico). The group had all been to BWCA in past as part of scouting trips. In 2016, Randy was one of the adult leaders accompanying Cas and Jane with her Girl Scout Trip (http://rbjc.wgtuxedopark.info/2016BWCWA.htm). The Scout trips embraced the adventure portaging gear and canoes between multiple lakes and staying in tents set up on rocks with no pads. In comparison, we were glamping having a rented a cabin on Triangle Lake with mattresses, solar power and jerry cans of potable water (Little Cabin in the Woods https://www.logcabinhideaways.com/triangle-lake-cabin/welcome-to-triangle-lake/). No running water and outhouses though, ergo the hard pass from the spouses. We paddled, fished and did lots of nothing in particular. A good trip.
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* ZERO SPOUSAL DESIRE - isn't 100% true as visiting Minnesota is one of the last 2 states on Bethnay's life list. She would have loved the poutine in Ely too.
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Bethany and the dogs say goodbye
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The trip began with a lasagna dinner at Steve Swaine's which allowed for an easy packing up and an early bedtime but also a gathering of friends as Mark Sautman was in town and Jerry joined us too.
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At Swaine's Arcade and Mysteriemporium
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The next morning (Wednesday) we picked up Steve's son Trevor and heading up north on US 61 aka The Avenue of the Saints. We made a pit stop in Hannibal MO, though no hacky sack with Tom and Becky this time; http://wmw.wgtuxedopark.info/WMW1998.htm
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At THE fence outside Mark Twain's boyhood home
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| Triangle and Ojibway Lakes and Kawashiwi River rapids in BWCA |
Little Cabin in the Woods |
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| Anthony putting the Kevlar in the lake for our first paddle |
Roughing it at the dinner table with LED lights and propane for cooking |
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We schleped the Kevlar canoe by hand after the canoe's yoke (portage bar) broke off. How bad could it be to for two men to carry the ~50-pound boat and paddles 0.6 miles? Very strenuous as it turns out as our fingers were carrying all the weight. Fortunately, we were able to g hocker the yoke back to the canoe for the return trip but it tempered our paddling wanderlust the rest of the trip.
| Pausing in route to the Kawashiwi River via the mucky, waterlogged cobbly 190 rod portage path |
At the BWCA Kawashiwi River, finally |
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| Rapids ¾ mile up the Kawashiwi River |
Twin rapids further up the Kawashiwt River |
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| Steve and son Trevor frying up the fish they caught |
That's the 3rd platter of pike and walleye they fried up |
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| Zups in Ely |
Kawashi River Falls below the hydroelectric dam |
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| Lunch in Duluth with the view of …the big lake, they called Gitchee Gumee |
Corps' Lake Superior Maritime Visitor Center fulfilling my busman's holiday tendencies |
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| With the “famous” Orange Moose at the Black River Falls BW |
Mirrorball at Dickeyville Grotto |
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| WI cheese curd factory store stop |
CORN - we saw lots of corn. |
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Cas's shatterd Kia Soul window (a lawn mowers rock hit it)
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We celebrated Bethnay's birthday with a grand slam breakfast and other freebies. Dinner at Maggiano's followed by Helium Comedy Club Adam Conover. The next night we had dinner at Amy and Alvan's with the townies while Bishop Mark was in town to enjoy cake.
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Helium Comedy Club at Westroads basement
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Birthday cake with her folks and Godfather
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Rustic Wine Bar in old WG with Kent and Greg - the food was good but the service was notably mediocre. We weren't too surprised when they announced going out of business a couple months later.
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Robust Wine in old Webster with Greg and Kent
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Bethany and Bingley
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Ron Curtis 1935 - 2025
On Thursday, 28 August 2025 Ron Curtis passed away after beating the odds and cheating probable death for at least five decades. A perforated bowel / ruptured colon was the final culprit as he would not have survived the surgery. Not a tragedy at 90 but unexpected as he's been to the Monterey County ER over a dozen times in the 6 and a quarter years he was at the skilled nursing facility. It was hard to not believe he was going to bounce back again like he's done so often in the past.
| In the Coast Guard at Camp Bullis Olympic Training (Nice work if you can get it) |
Monterey/Pacific Grove c.2000 |
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Ron was the Subject Matter Expert on the Smith & Wesson Model 2, his passion began when he picked up his first one for $35 at a pawn shop in San Antonio outside Fort Sam Houston while training for the 1960 Olympic Pentathlon Team (https://model2project.com/). He also became an avid collector and dealer of Wedgewood. West Coast distance prevented him from being the more involved grandfather that he desired to be, but he made the most of his shot at redemption. He will be remembered for his optimism, resilience, and good cheer.
| Smith and Weson Display at Vegas show c.1970 |
1998-08-11 Moderate Earthquake reported in STL paper (at his Wedgewood and Guns antique shop) |
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We didn't have a memorial service for him but we suggested to people wanting to do something, to get a nice bottle of red wine and watch a quality John Wayne Western (The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The Searchers or The Quiet Man). He would have liked that.
| Sledding at George Curtis house |
Three RCs on Easter 1967 at Goff house |
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Resilience - The family joke was that Ron was the Energizer Bunny that despite everything thrown at him, he just kept going and going. Ron had an indomitable spirit that he was going to improve and regain the last bit of physical ability that age and life took away from him. With a little time and effort, he would be back to it. His optimism was clearly part of his resilience that got him as far as did and it was contagious among his care givers. Less charitably you could compare him to the Black Knight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail ("Tis but a scratch!"). Either way, he had the ideal attitude for rehab.
| With the Curti on a visit in 2009 |
Curti with Ron and Gaye in Pacific Grove |
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What was thrown at him? Here's the list that we're aware of, which we're including so the girls can reference it in the future as they'll look here:
 “All the child illnesses”,
broken arm and wrists in High School (while wrestling, he took himself to the doctor to have it set and didn't inform his family until he walked in the door afterwards for dinner),
Concussion while training for the 1960 Pentathlon training - unconscious for hours after getting thrown from a horse riding through gullies at Camp Bullis
Breast cancer 1972; he had the surgery with no follow-up and didn't tell anyone for a quarter century because men didn't get breast cancer
Hypertension in his 40s
1982 6-month coma following a cerebral hemorrhage (wife #3 divorced him during this period)
4 decades of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). The COPD was originally misdiagnosed as emphysema. It was not Alpha-1 antitrypsin (AAT) deficiency as he got himself tested after Randy told him he tested positive and was certain that it came from the Nancy's Sullivan dad who died of emphysema along with all his siblings
gallstone 1989, surgery on the day of the Loma Prieta Earthquake.
1993 kidney stone removed (kidney disease stage 3 - Moderately Reduced Kidney Function),
Cirrhosis of the liver,
Hepatitis B virus (HBV),
Renal atherosclerosis,
hypokalemia (low potassium,
Glaucoma and cataracts,
L-3 ruptured disc,
3 August 2010 Atrial fibrillation and pacemaker;
neuropathy in both feet,
23 November 2010 stroke (cerebral infarction) followed by sporadic ministrokes after that;
Venous thromboembolism (VTE) in 2018,
May 2019 - Placed in Cypress Ridge, a Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) in Monterey
multiple skin cancers (nose, top of head),
Chronic systolic and diastolic heart failure (reduced ejection fraction (EF), which is the percentage of blood pumped out of the heart with each beat and results in a normal or preserved EF, but the heart cannot fill with enough blood)
acute encephalopathy (onset of brain dysfunction that causes a decline in mental status, consciousness, and cognitive function (not sure I agree with this one),
oropharyngeal dysphagia (swallowing issues),
gout
2019 = 2025 Chronic urinary retention (CUR) leading to urinary tract infection (UTI) with some frequency while at the Cypress Ridge (probable a dozen)
2020 COVID on Christmas Day, Cypress Ridge threw away all his stuff away as they didn't think he'd make it
2024 Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) which led to acute osteomyelitis which caused them to amputate his right leg above the knee in June
2025 August 28 perforated bowel / ruptured colon that took him down.
September
With Cas's return to school, things quieted down quite a bit as we processed recent events and we prepared for our major trip to Ireland covered in a seperate update.
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Backgamon on the balcony
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