Charles Curtis

Curtis, Charles
Charles Buckley Curtis, whose family originally settled Stratford, CT in 1734, passed away on December 21, 2014 in Peterborough, NH. Born October 14, 1929, he was the first child of Isobel Ramsay Buckley and John Talbot Curtis. "Chas" grew up in Southport, CT and graduated from Deerfield in 1947 and Yale in 1951. He rose to Executive Officer and Navigator in the U.S. Navy, following a long line of military and naval service stretching back to Silas Talbot, Captain of the U.S.S. Constitution. Early in his career he joined Pepperidge Farm and became General Plant Manager in Norwalk, CT. Chas then joined White, Weld & Co. to pursue a long-held interest in stock picking and portfolio management. He ultimately retired at 72 as Senior Vice President of UBS, having retained many of his original clients. Making turns into his eighties, Chas had a lifelong interest in skiing, first courting his wife of fifty-seven years, Ellen Martin Whitaker, at Mad River Glen. They later introduced their three boys to the "Alta Bounce." When not skiing, playing the drums, or listening to Louis Armstrong, he was a passionate and studious golfer at The Country Club of Fairfield, where he became President as his father had been. Chas also dedicated himself to Fairfield Country Day School as a long serving Trustee. Never happier than when out in the garden weeding, clipping, planting or supervising, he cherished his land at Mountain Meadow Farm in Weston, VT. Starting in 1964 with 20 acres and finishing with 192 acres, his careful and exacting stewardship of the trails, meadows, stonewalls, barn, milk house, sugar shack, and house may be his proudest legacy. He is survived by his wife, his sisters, Clare Rimmer, of Kennebunkport, ME and Exeter, NH, Mollie Fair, of Charleston, SC, and sons, John Talbot Curtis II, of London and Isle of Wight, England, Timothy Whitaker Curtis, of Fairfield, CT, and Charles Buckley Curtis Jr., of Waitsfield, VT, along with seven skiing grandchildren. A memorial service will be held at 11am on Saturday, January 10 at the Southport Congregational Church.