He and Judith had recently returned from a month in the southwest of France, where it was still summer, still paradise. He had just celebrated his 59th birthday.
His happiest times were with Judith, their cat Petunia, their many friends, on his rock-hunting expeditions and on board his boat “Shifting Sands.” He loved all things Chatham and Chatham waters most of all.
Curt was only 30 when his dad was ill and about to pass, and the family business, Hudson Eldridge Insurance, was in danger of being sold at severe discount for lack of a licensed owner. Curt immediately took over, spending six weeks in intensive training in Hartford, CT, to save the business. He successfully ran the business thereafter for many years.
But the occupation he loved best was as a musician – he played guitar, trumpet and keyboard – and even as a boy, he played piano at an adult level of proficiency. (He often joked that in his first band, composed of other musicians many years his senior, he was the only one not old enough to drink.) He played keyboard for the George Gritzbach Band, performing at venues such as the Philadelphia Folk Festival, and at the venerable BB King’s in New York City, where he looked down one night to see the Rolling Stones’ Keith Richards giving him a thumbs-up from the front row. In later years, he also played keyboard with Dugan and the Kendrick Road Kings band.
Curt’s intellectual interests were profound. Beginning with prep school (Lawrence Academy, Groton, Massachusetts), he was a thirsty guy in pursuit of knowledge. At the University of Massachuestts, Amherst, and at Harvard College, he followed scientific interests, while simultaneously believing that there is more to what is humanly perceived. (And OK, he also proudly claimed to have majored in surfing at the University of Florida, Gainesville.)
Curt was a passionate rockhound, and delighted in exploring the early geological history of Cape Cod and that of its native American tribes. Wearing his trademark floppy hat, and using an eagle-headed walking stick as a poker, he was perpetually scanning the ground for fossil rocks and ancient rock tools. He also became an antiques appraiser, and as a young man owned a high-end antiques business in downtown Chatham.
His mom and dad – Huddy and Ginny Eldridge – were fixtures of Chatham life; his dad as an insurance executive, realtor and developer, and president of Eastward Ho! Country Club; his mom as a talented pianist, a Sunday School teacher, and gracious hostess in North Chatham.
Curt was known for his extraordinary kindness and forbearance. To know him was to experience the rare gift of unconditional love.
Curt loved animals and if anyone wishes to make a donation in his memory, it can be sent to the New England Society for Abandoned Animals (where Curt found Petunia), P. O. Box 1041, Osterville, MA 02655, www.nesaa.org; or the Animal Rescue League of Boston (Brewster branch), 10 Chandler Street, Boston, MA 02116, 617-426-9170, ext. 615 for tribute gifts.
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