Lois Curtis was
born in a house on McDermott Drive in Allen on December 23, 1923. Yesterday she was laid to rest in the Allen
cemetery almost directly across the street from her childhood home. The life of
this much loved Allen resident had come full circle but not until she touched
the lives of many along the way.
Born Anna “Lois”
Gilliland, she attended the Allen School and graduated in 1941. She married
Walter Curtis shortly after he graduated from Allen in 1942 and the couple
settled down on a farm near the intersection of Custer and McKinney Ranch Road
in Frisco.
During the 1950’s
Lois worked part-time with Ruth Canady cooking for children in the Allen
School. According to her son Bob Curtis,
the lunch menu was literally homemade.
“The ladies brought
their own recipes in from home and cooked meals that the kids loved like fried
chicken, yeast rolls and hot desserts. Turkey and stuffing were her specialty
and years later when she no longer cooked, she still had the cafeteria staff
using the same recipe we enjoyed each Thanksgiving.”
As the school
district grew, Lois moved into a full-time position as food service manager
which she held until her retirement. Walter Curtis supplemented his
farm income as the school district tax assessor and bus driver. That also grew
into a full-time job with the schools and the couple moved into Allen from the
farm in 1962.
An interesting
story from 1963 involved Lois with her friends and co-workers Iva Mae Morrow
and Bertie Davidson. The ladies tuned in each day to the popular soap opera
“Days of Our Lives” in the kitchen each day until one day a news bulletin
reported that President Kennedy had been shot.
Curtis rushed to
tell Principal James Griffin who at first didn’t believe the news. They then
called Superintendent Le Rountree and high school principal Max Vaughan to
share the news with the older students. It all began with Lois and her “Days of
Our Lives” TV set.
It wasn’t her
cooking or his driving that led to a middle school being named for Walter and
Lois Curtis in 1994. Outside of work, the two devoted their spare time to
making Allen a better place for kids and families.
Whether it was
running the scoreboard or running one of the first school PTA groups, Walter
and Lois were there to help. Along with
Pete Ford and Alvis Story, the Curtis were among the biggest Allen Eagles fans
in town and rarely missed a sporting event.
“My father devoted
34 years of service to Allen children and my mother gave 37 years,” explained
Bob Curtis. “Allen was their town and the pride they showed in the schools and
community was evident through every one of those years.”
With Lois, her three
children, numerous grandchildren and great grandchildren, Bob Curtis figures
there has been a Curtis family member in the Allen Schools for the past 82
years. He retired as the district’s long-time facilities director in 2010 and
more recently his daughter Stacey Dunston has been teaching math at the Lowery
Freshman Center.
Following Walter’s
death in 1992, Lois continued to support the Allen Eagles Allen sporting events
until she was sidelined by an illness in 2009.
Whether it was an
extra helping of her signature turkey stuffing or a helping hand for a child
who lost his lunch, Lois Curtis was a mother and a friend and a darn good cook
to thousands of Allen students. For that we all say thank you and God Bless.
