RASMUSSEN, Dr. John Curtis Jr., died unexpectedly in his sleep on June 30, 2009 in Council Bluffs, Iowa. He had been traveling through the Black Hills to Little Bighorn River in Montana with two friends from VMI. He was born in Richmond on January 23, 1943, the older son of the late John Curtis Rasmussen and the late Dena Lee Stith Rasmussen. On his mother's side he was descended from William Waverley Townes, mayor of Petersburg throughout the Civil War. On his father's side he was descended from Robert John Rasmussen of Denmark. He attended Collegiate School for one year and St. Christopher's School for 11 years, graduating there in 1961. In 1965, he graduated from VMI, a private in Company F, proud that in his final year his many demerits and penalty tours from "running the block" and other infractions earned him duty as officer of the day on New Market Day. He was trained in the Medical Service Corps at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. While stationed at Fort Stewart, Georgia, he imaginatively stretched the boundaries of "liberty" by traveling military standby to Germany to purchase parts for his Porsche. Less elastic military authorities promptly dispatched him to the war zone in Southeast Asia. As a 1st lieutenant in South Vietnam for a year (1967-1968), he served with the 25th Infantry Division. He was one of few officers awarded the Combat Medical Badge, eligible only to those medics who "engaged the enemy in active ground combat" and were "personally present and under fire." Upon completion of his active duty overseas, he arranged to be discharged, to the mystification of Army authorities, in Fort Lewis, Washington, rather than his hometown of Richmond. He promptly flew on military standby to Honolulu, Hawaii, where he stationed himself for several months, ex officio, at the R&R Center at Fort DeRussey - near the best beach on the island. There he developed a friendship with the renowned recording artist, the late Screamin' Jay Hawkins. After leaving Hawaii he attended graduate school at the University of Georgia, earning his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in modern European history, while becoming an ardent Bulldogs sports fan. From 1973-1980, he was a staffer for the late Rep. David E. Satterfield III of Richmond, serving in various positions in both his D.C. and Richmond offices, and under Satterfield's chairmanship patronage, with the Democratic Research Organization in D.C. From 1981-1985, he was Legislative Director for the late Rep. Joe Skeen of New Mexico, and later in 1985 worked briefly for Sen. Phil Gramm of Texas, before moving over to the Energy Office of the International Trade Administration of the Department of Commerce, serving there from 1985 until his retirement from federal service in 2001. He traveled to the Far East and Middle East to further the department's mission to open foreign markets to U.S. exports. The Tariff Liberalization Team that he headed in 2000 earned the department's "Bronze Medal Award for Superior Federal Service." He spent the first year of retirement at his house in Old Town Alexandria, enjoying at Southside 815 major league baseball played by the Orioles and Cardinals, and playing tennis at Belle Haven Country Club with his good friends there. Beginning in the summer of 2002, he spent much of his time at his beach house on the Outer Banks in Corolla, North Carolina. He was a character with charming eccentricities, and was much beloved by his close friends and their families in Virginia, Georgia, and elsewhere, where he was variously referred to as "John," "Rat," "Raz," or "Uncle John." He shared a special relationship with children of all ages; teenagers found him delightful because of his non-judgmental and laid-back manner. He was to them a refined "Secondhand Lion" who loved unconditionally, expecting nothing in return. It would be a mistake not to mention his lifelong love of dogs, beginning with Pup and evidenced most recently by his relationship with Shadow and India, the dogs he cared for and shared with his brother Bill's family. He was fond of history (especially European and Confederate), sports (tennis, baseball, college football, rugby, and car racing), and music (rock and roll, blues, and country). He had a zest for good cigars, fresh beer, and tasty food. He traveled widely with his circle of friends and made yearly trips to Tobago and the Far East with some of them. He was a member of the Westmoreland Club in Richmond, and a non-resident member of the Fredericksburg Country Club, often staying at a friend's nearby Spotsylvania plantation of "St. Julien." He was a member also of the Klong Toey Academicals Rugby Football Club of Bangkok, Thailand. He is survived by his younger brother and only sibling, Dr. William Meade Stith Rasmussen, and his brother's wife, Maria Payne Rasmussen; along with his nephews, Drury Alexander Stith Rasmussen and Marc Emerson Townes Rasmussen; Dru's wife, Lea Schon Rasmussen; and Maria's children, Elizabeth Maria Joynes and Alexandra Mercedes Joynes. A memorial service will be held at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Richmond, 6000 Grove Avenue, on Saturday, July 11 at 11 a.m. A reception will follow at the family home. Interment of the ashes will be at Blandford Cemetery in Petersburg at 9:30 a.m. the same day. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Virginia Historical Society (P.O. Box 7311, Richmond, 23221) or the Confederate War Memorial Chapel (P.O. Box 71256, Richmond, 23255).
This obituary was originally published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
