Curtis Blinn Scheu

Curtis Blinn Scheu was born during the Space Race at San Antonio Community Hospital in Upland, California on November 2, 1963 to the proud parents of Allyn and Rosemary Scheu. He must have fought that wild ride for he ended up backwards and upside down and almost did not survive. His mother will tell you that he fought all forms of containment - be it at play time or in school. Curt had other things on his mind. He attended Valencia Elementary School and Pioneer Junior High School, both in Upland, later attending both Webb Preparatory and Claremont Collegiate High Schools in Claremont. He then attended and graduated from Cal Poly Pomona with a major in Business and minor in Government Contracts and Real Estate. Curt had two brothers, Craig and Mark, and younger sister, Kristen. Curt was a jack of all trades and conventional attempts to educate Curt in the California School System did not sustain his interest level for long; Curt was a self-made man. Instruction manuals and written directions were things you threw away, wiped your hands on, or just ignored. There was nothing Curt couldn't fix, improve or customize. Curt worked with R&D Fasteners and Scheu Manufacturing for many years ingeniously testing the integrity of large bolts. He always said it was a perfect job - dressed in what looked like space suit as protection from extreme heat, in a small lab, blowing things up.If Curt had gotten his wish to become a true astronaut, he would have no doubt done the following: he would have increased the power of the engines, "pimped" his ride with thunderbolts on the side, he would have outfitted the module with custom upholstery and state of the art surround sound and updated the kitchen. He would have added an oven large enough to fit an 18 lb. turkey and a spice rack to flavor the dehydrated space food. There would have been a place for fresh herbs and streaming Netflix. The best feature of all would have been the customized bay window with three bucket seats for his kids. He would have wanted them each to enjoy their maiden journey to the stars with a front row seat while he told tales that blurred the line between fact and fiction about the constellations and mysteries of the universe. No one would have cared if there were hints of fantasy because the tales were always told so full of intricacies that the truth would have seemed boring.Curt lived long enough to see his 3 kids, Kendall, Curtis Jr, and Raegan grow and mature into wonderful young adults with futures yet imagined and a wife, Donna, who helped him in his final years to become the celebrated Earth Astronaut that he was. He joined her in her Gymnastics School in Visalia where he celebrated her success by adding to the program during COVID-19 - helping to streamline her business in as many ways as he would have outfitted his rocket ship.Curt got the same telephone call that we all received one early Spring morning this year when we learned our brother Mark had left this Earth without warning. We were shocked. It seems a fair guess that in Curt's great love and concern for his brother he hit his thrusters and forgot to pack his bag on a warm summer evening on Sept 4, 2020. He was just 2 months shy of his 57th birthday, Curt broke a hole in the stratosphere in an effort to find his brother. Perhaps both Curt and Mark are floating high above us now in the pimped-out capsule watching Netflix together again and listening to Jimmy Buffet and Van Morrison.Curt is survived by his wife Donna Dorsey Scheu of Visalia, California, his 2 daughters, Kendall and Raegan, and son Curtis Jr.