Per Bjorn Hoyer Curtiss

Per loved and treasured life and the many friends he made throughout his 89 years. Born in Stockholm of a Danish mom and an American dad, he and his family came to the US around 1936. Growing up in Weston and Westport, CT, he won a basketball scholarship to the University of Colorado, from which he was drafted into the US Army, serving for two years.

Upon his discharge he went to work for the James Lees Carpet Company in New York City, and then to Chicago, northern Minnesota, upstate New York, and finally to Los Angeles to represent Brintons in the western US. Later going into business for himself, Per was a successful representative of carpeting, fabrics, and furnishings for high end casinos, hotels, and businesses throughout the US. He frequently traveled abroad to find resources for, and makers of, his products.

Per was also a music lover, a choir and chorus participant with a beautiful voice. An avid sailor, he moored his ketch, named Aquavit, first in Santa Monica before sailing it up the coast to the Shilshole Marina in Seattle where he and his wife Georgia (Saar) relocated in 2004, moving to Shoreline in 2006. Diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease in 2015, Per sold the house and the boat, and moved to Ida Culver House Broadview where he lived until 2021, spending his last year at Merrill Gardens Ballard, both in Seattle.

Per was predeceased by his brother Charles (Spike) Stedman Hoyer Curtiss, USAF, in 1952; his father, Charles Stedman Curtiss in 1983; his mother, Aase Karen Hoyer Curtiss in 1992, his first wife Shirley Wells (dates unknown); his beloved wife Georgia Saar Curtiss, 2006; his daughter, Claudia Ann Curtiss, 2010; and his cherished German shepherd, Hasso, 2021.

He is survived by close friends, Barbara Stillman Smith and family, for whom Per moved to Seattle; his brother, Robert Paine Hoyer Curtiss and family living in and around Oceanport, NJ; and a number of Curtiss cousins, one of whom, Deborah Pratt Curtiss, Seattle, joined Per in 2017 as his partner.

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