John Maurice Curnow

CURNOW, John Maurice was born on June 30, 1923, in the village of Ickenham near London, England, and passed away at the age of 94 on March 28, 2018 in Dayton, Ohio. He attended the City of London School where he swam for the school. He joined the Royal Air Force during World War II at the age of seventeen and trained as a navigator in South Africa. He flew on both Halifax and Lancaster bombers, going on 24 missions. On the last mission his plane was shot down over occupied France. John was the sole survivor and spent two years in German prisoner of war camps. During his captivity, he escaped three times. In the last of these, he was liberated by British forces and was able to celebrate VE Day in London. After the war John was employed as an assistant manager of a tea plantation in India. He was promoted to acting manager, then to manager. During his time with the tea company he managed three different plantations in northeast India. While working on a plantation in 1952, he heard a broadcast of the Voice of Prophecy radio program and gave his heart to Christ. He was baptized into the Seventh-day Adventist Church in 1954. In 1958 he left the tea plantations to work as a literature evangelist for the Adventist Church in England, then returned to India in 1964 to work for the Adventist Church in the Southern Asia publishing department. He also served two years as principal of Lowry School in Bangalore, India. John and his wife, Joan, followed their children to the US in 1979. He worked for the Christian Record Braille Foundation (now Christian Record Services) until his retirement in 1989. He was a devoted and enthusiastic gardener, spending many happy and fruitful hours with his raised beds. He is survived by his beloved wife of 63 years, Joan; daughter, Sally (Joe) Mashburn; sons, Adrian (Barbara) Curnow, Ian (Jan), Curnow, Perryn (Julie) Curnow, eleven grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren. A memorial service will be held at a future date when family can gather. His ashes will lie in the Bellbrook cemetery. In Lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Adventist Development and Relief Agency, 12501 Old Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, MD 20904, www.adra.com. Condolences may be sent to the family by visiting www.routsong.com.