William Bradley Curtis

The Graveside Service will be held at Hillcrest Memorial Park, 7405 W Northwest Hwy, Dallas, TX, at 10:30 am on July 18th, 2020, with Dr. David Hartman officiating. A memorial and celebration of his life will be held in Wichita Falls at a later date.

Brad was born on August 11, 1959, to Bill and Faye Blanton Curtis on Tachikawa Air Force Base in Tokyo, Japan. Brad moved around the world with his family before arriving in 1972 to Wichita Falls from Ramstein AFB, Germany.

He started school in Wichita Falls at Barwise Jr. High School and graduated from S. H. Rider High School in 1977. Brad’s mother, Faye, sadly passed away in 1974 from ALS/Lou Gehrig’s Disease when he was a freshman. His father was transferred to California and Brad’s older brother Rick was a senior at Rider and chose to stay in Wichita Falls for his final year. Brad decided if Rick was staying, I am staying. By chance, Rider High School began a soccer program his freshman year where he, his brother Rick and friends Joe and Mike George all played on the team.

With no home in Wichita Falls, Brad lived and moved to and from his friend’s families while in high school. The Pat and Mary Lee George family became his home away from home. He always considered the George’s his new family and they treated him like a son and brother. Brad worked during high school at the Pelican’s Wharf as a busboy, waiter and cook.

After graduating from high school, he enrolled at Midwestern State University. He worked his way through school at Curtis’s Liquor Store on Southwest Parkway. Although the store shared his last name, he was not related to the owner, and conveniently forgot to mention that to his customers. During college, he stayed with the Melvin and Sula McAda family until he roomed with two of his best friends, Steve Berry and Steve Stout in rent houses owned by Berry’s father.

Brad graduated with a degree in Petroleum Geology in 1983 and went to work for Expando Oil Company in Wichita Falls and helped developed their properties in Texas and Southern Oklahoma. Unfortunately, Brad was laid off from his job during an industry downturn in 1986. He worked as a private investigator for Popps Private Investigations in Wichita Falls, where he spied on some of Wichita Falls finest before moving to Dallas for greener pastures. Once in Dallas, he landed a job as a bartender at Baby Routh Restaurant, one of the hottest scenes in Dallas at the time. A regular patron named John Waggoner would later ask Brad if he would like a position with Waggoner-Baldridge Oil Company. Brad accepted without hesitation. He worked primarily in the Boonesville Conglomerate play in Wise County, TX. He later helped transition the company into the highly profitable Barnett Shale play in North Texas and was persistent their management apply 3D seismic technology to define their exploration. He was later named Vice President of geology and partner and the company changed the name to Republic Energy, Inc. After multiple sales of Barnett Shale operations, the cost of Barnett Shale acreage became too expensive for Republic and Brad recommended and enjoyed his role in helping the company branch out of Texas and into the Marcellus Shale play in Appalachia. The Marcellus would be his final play and sales before retirement in 2016. Brad was a past member of the North Texas Geological Society, the Dallas Geological Society, and the American Association of Petroleum Geologists.

Brad loved playing golf at the old Southwest Golf Course in Grand Prairie and later joined Royal Oaks Country Club in Dallas.

To say Brad had a charismatic personality might be an understatement. People were drawn to Brad and wanted to be around him to listen to his self-deprecating sense of humor. His laugh was infectious, and he always found the best in everyone. Brad was affectionately known as “Curly” to his many friends as a compliment to his curly blonde hair.

Brad was a lifelong bachelor until one girl from his youth, the one he always had a crush on, reentered his life. Melissa Brantley and Brad began a new relationship in 2016 leading to marriage in 2018. Although their time together was short, they traveled and enjoyed their new life until Brad’s untimely passing.

Brad was preceded in death by his mother, Faye Blanton Curtis and his younger brother, David Curtis.

Brad is survived by his wife Melissa, her children Elaina Kay and Andy, their grandson Kaden, his father and stepmother, Dr. Bill and Margaret Curtis, his loving and caring brother and sister-in-law Dr. Rick and Elizabeth Curtis, his step-brother Chris and family, his step-sister Audrey, and eleven nieces and nephews. He had a big, wide world of friends and families including the Pat and Mary Lee George family and the Walt Berry family who treated him as a son and brother for most of his life. He also leaves behind his special sweet bonus daughter, Janell Taylor-Pendergast.