When I was five or six I used to run over to Curtis’s house after dinner to see Don.  Being a young child with no couth I was often scratching my butt. Harry would say, “You going to the movies?”  Me: “No.”  Harry: “Then why are you picking your seat?”  It actually took me years to figure out what that meant. 

Years later when I went to MSU after getting out of the military Harry was a reference for me for jobs, a financial reference for student loans, and once he bailed me out of jail.  I could always go to Dort and Harry’s for a meal, a loaf of fresh bread, a warm fire, and good company.  Like having a second family.  

I've known Harry basically my entire life. I just saw him a few weeks ago and he seemed no different then the man I knew as a kid.  When I was young and we hadn't seen each other for a long time, he'd say "How you do, Lew?" and then grab my hand and shake it back and forth, as if we were two lumberjacks sawing down a tree with a two-handled saw. He'd just chuckle as I was stuck wondering how long before he released his grip. When I graduated high school, I moved back down-state and went to MSU.  Dort and Harry's was the place I would go when I couldn't make it home but needed to feel like I was with family. I remember going there for dinner once. It might have been for Thanksgiving because Harry cooked a whole turkey on the grill. I was amazed at how perfectly he had cooked it using a charcoal grill. He was a grill-master before that was a thing. My dad would always tell the story of he and my mom and Dort an Harry going to Mackinac Island. They rented bikes and Harry got the last 10-speed. Everyone else was stuck with single-speeds. As the three of them struggled to get up the hills, Harry scooted by them like Lance Armstrong. When they got to their final destination, a pub or restaurant there, Harry was sitting at a table on the patio with drinks ready for everyone. Of course he was smoking his pipe and having a good laugh at how exhausted the rest of them were. 

One of my fondest memories of  Uncle Harry is  when he would let us  play with his hair!  He would tolerate barrettes, the whole nine yards!  Lol what a guy!!  I had so many adventures  with Aunt Dorthy and Uncle Harry, experiences I would never have had without  them.  I will be forever great full for the times I had with this gentle loving man.

Part 2:

Continued...

Grandpa taught me about the dented can and discounted food shelf in the back of Kroger; this is where he did a lot of his grocery shopping. He would let me interview him for school projects and always served us butter pecan ice cream with desserts following dinner. Grandpa would always mute the TV for commercials and let us style his hair with his little combs. Once he made me help him wash his hair in the sink with rain water he had collected outside in a bucket, he said "it makes your hair soft." Grandpa would listen to our piano recitals at his house and show us old home videos of our parents on the projector in “his office.” Grandpa was the grill master and loved to cook the meat for all our family dinners. He started each day with a cup of coffee and reading the newspaper. Grandpa loved to have fires in the wood stove during the winter and poke around in his shed. I was always so confused why he never flushed pee in his bathroom, but he would say “if it’s yellow, let it mellow. If it’s brown, flush it down”. 

I could go on and on. Grandpa was a man of few words, but had a heart of gold and a brain full of knowledge. His sense of humor made us smile and his one liners were always on time. He always did little things that would make you laugh and adore being around him. I don’t think he had any idea how he impacted us all.  I know he is pain free and happy now.  Grandpa, Always keep your eye on Grammie and know how much we will all miss and love you. Lastly, go blue!! 

Love, 

Hannah Brown (Bruce's youngest daughter) 


Part One: 

Sunday heaven gained another angel, my grandpa Harry. I have so many memories of him from my childhood. Grandpa used to pick me up from school when I was sick and came to my rescue a few times when I had a flat tire. I dented the side of his truck once and he didn’t bat an eye (probably because of all the cars he went through with his own children). He babysat me when I had head lice and had to stay home from school and he taught me to always drive a Ford (I still haven’t listened). Grandpa gave me my first puff from a cigar, my first sip of beer, and made me promise to keep his pipe smoking a secret from Grandma. He used to make all the grand kids “wiff” his ground horse radish when he was making his sauce for the "roast beast"; we wanted to cry because it was so strong, but we would smell it every time! 

Grandpa would sneak me to McDonalds in the mornings I was with him for a biscuit and a senior coffee; the biscuit was also something I had to keep a secret from Grandma. He made me try grape nuts once and I thought “why would anyone eat this bird seed?” Grandpa ate cottage cheese on his pancakes and used fake salt that tasted horrible. He took Rachel and I on a trip around Lake Superior, it was one we will never forget. He made us eat all the oranges in the camper before we crossed the Canadian boarder because they wouldn’t allow fruit over from the States and we could never let anything go to waste! We got to see a moose cross the road during that trip and he made sure we took our vitamin C daily even though Rachel couldn't swallow pills. She ended up with a burn on her tongue from letting the vitamin dissolve there. 

Continue to part 2....


OBITUARY

Harry Herbert Curtis

22 June, 1927 – 26 May, 2019

Gorsline Runciman Funeral Homes

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