Sarah Lou Curtis

Born Sarah Lou Wallace, to parents S.R. and Ruth Wallace, second of five children, including elder brother Jerry Wallace, younger sisters Shirley Ray and Norma Jean, and youngest brother Winford (Windy), of the Wallace farming community of Monette Arkansas.

An excellent student, she received the honor of Valedictorian, attending Monette (Arkansas) High School, class of 1954. Soon after high school, Sarah Lou came to work in Memphis in 1955, as a switchboard operator for the telephone company, living in the boarding house of Mr. and Mrs. Meeks, in the midtown medical center area.

She married Clarence Lavern Curtis (from Big Flat, Arkansas) November 5, 1955, at the age of 18. They spent some time in or near New Orleans while Lavern was stationed there with the Army. After Lavern's discharge from the army, they lived in the Lebanon, Indiana, area, where eldest son Mark was born in 1960; there had been an earlier son who did not survive after childbirth, named Clay. They lived in Jonesboro, Arkansas, for a time, where at one time they all three might have starved if not for Sarah's parents bringing some groceries to them. Eventually, the family came to Memphis and Sarah gave birth to another son, Thomas, in 1963. Daughter, Ruth, came along in 1971. All this time, Sarah was a housewife, taking care of her children and husband, until it was time for Ruth to go to school, during which time Sarah began her long employment with the Memphis City Schools as a secretary, serving at Kingsbury, East, and Central High Schools to her retirement in 2008. She and her husband Lavern divorced eventually, after the boys had left home, leaving her and Ruth in their modest house with their several cats.

For all her time in Memphis, Sarah, and family, as it grew, attended Macon Road Church of Christ, practically from the congregation's start. Over time, generations of preschoolers received biblical teaching from Sarah in Sunday School and Vacation Bible School at Macon Road Church of Christ. She had a lovely voice, singing the church hymns in soprano, her talent and love of singing shared down the line with Mark, Thomas and Ruth. Until she became frail, and coinciding with the pandemic, you could count on Sarah and Ruth in the pews at Macon Road on a Sunday.

Sarah enjoyed occasional visits to her mother's family in the Los Angeles area, camping trips into the Ozarks frequently and across Tennessee. In her active days and before she became unable, she liked to do her yardwork and gardening, pushing an electric mower around the yard, and still picking up sticks and strolling around after her physical strength was gone. She and Ruth loved their procession of cats of all colors and sizes over the years, many sleeping with her in bed or on the sofa. She loved sewing, making clothes for herself and children, first on an electrified treadle Singer, then on a modern one with all the stitches later, and not just home clothes, but pretty dresses and suits for work or church while she still could. She enjoyed donating money to her various animal causes.

She had her share of sadness or difficulty, living a hard life with her husband who was sometimes out of work in the construction industry and who was given to drink at times, until she gained a measure of personal and financial independence after parting with her husband and then working in the schools. The greatest sadnesses, yet met with her great faith, the loss of her first child, and the loss of her youngest son, Thomas, to AIDS at the age of 33.

In her recent years, dementia or Alzheimer's began to take its toll on her mind and abilities. You might be someone from her past when she was talking to you, until she changed to the present in the course of conversation. Her balance suffered and she had several falls, and Ruth and Mark undertook to place her with Page Robbins Adult Day Care Center, where she was able to safely enjoy daily activities and interaction with people, rather than being at home alone and at greater risk of injury. She enjoyed these days, calling it "going to school" or work. Her most recent illness came after a fall which broke four ribs, from which she seemed to be physically recovering, and then getting rehabilitation to return to her former life. Sadly, though she did manage physical rehab, her mental status did not return to its previous level, and she had no appetite, and eventually had trouble breathing one day, prompting a return to the hospital where she never recovered. In the end, Hospice Care allowed her gentle passage from this life, daughter Ruth and son Mark there with her to the end.

In lieu of flowers, the family ask that you make donations to to Page Robbins Adult Day Care, online at:

pagerobbins.org, or mail to: Page Robbins Adult Day Center, 1961 South Houston Levee Rd, Collierville, TN 38017.

A visitation for Sarah will be held Monday, August 15, 2022 from 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM at Memphis Funeral Home and Memorial Gardens, 3700 North Germantown Parkway, Bartlett, TN 38133. A funeral service will occur Tuesday, August 16, 2022 from 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM, 3700 North Germantown Parkway, Bartlett, TN 38133. A committal service will occur Tuesday, August 16, 2022 from 11:15 AM to 12:00 PM, 3700 North Germantown Parkway, Bartlett, TN 38133.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.MemphisFuneralGermantownParkway.com for the Curtis family.