Harry Curtiss

Harry was an amazing husband, father and grandfather. He was born in Caerphilly, Wales on September 21st, 1932 to mother Maud and father William. When Harry was about 3, they moved to London and at age 19 Harry did required military service with the Royal Air Force. At age 22 Harry met the love of his life, Niki who was just 17, when they were paired up as dancing partners for ballroom dancing classes. They got married on September 6, 1958 and 6 years later they had their first daughter, Dionne. Then eight years after that, they had their second daughter Natalie. During this time Harry had a very successful career in the corporate world while venturing into real estate ownership with Niki which enabled him to retire at the young age of 40. With his usual zest and enthusiasm he learned to play golf, tennis, bridge and ice skate and had more time to spend on his long time passion of fishing. Harry and Niki built an amazing life for themselves and their daughters with many adventures and travels around the world. In the early 1980s Harry and Niki made the momentous decision to uproot themselves from England to Southern California where the sun always shines. They brought Natalie at age 10 with them while Dionne remained at University in England. In 1987 Dionne joined the family and they became “The Curtiss Team of Harry, Niki and Dionne” which of course has endured until today. Both Dionne and Natalie got married to husbands Carlo and Ken. Dionne’s husband is Carlo and they have daughters Gabriella and Isabella. Natalie’s husband is Ken and they have children Sophie and Luc. Although Harry retired from real estate a number of years ago his love of telling jokes, playing tennis, bridge and dancing continued, and especially dancing with the love of his life, Niki to the very end. Despite the challenges of the past few year of Alzheimer’s, Harry always had a smile on his face and a kiss for his love.