CURTIS, George Lewis 1878-1956

CURTIS, LEWIS, WILCOX, HOLMES, MURPHY

Posted By: Michael Kearney (email)
Date: 7/31/2002 at 20:19:15

The Clinton Herald Saturday March 17, 1956 p. 8 George Lewis Curtis, 77, chairman of the board of Curtis Companies Incorporated and nationally known as an authority in the woodworking field, died at 4:10 a.m. today in Jane Lamb hospital. Funeral services will be held at 3:30 p.m. Monday in the Presbyterian church. Dr. Bruce McCullough will officiate. Burial will be in Springdale cemetery. Friends may call at the Bragonier-Fay funeral home after 7:30 o'clock tonight. The body will be removed to the church at noon Monday. The deceased's father, George Martin Curtis, was one of the founders of the original Curtis firm in 1866. G.L. Curtis joined the company in 1899 and in 1911 organized Curtis Companies Incorporated which embraced various subsidiary units. Plants are now located at Clinton; Wausau, New London and Oconto in Wisconsin, Lincoln, Neb., Topeka, Kan., Sioux City, Iowa, Chicago, Minneapolis, Minn. and Scranton, Pa. G.L. Curtis was the first president of the incorporated company and served in that capacity until 947 when he became chairman of the board. He was active and well known in the lumber and woodwork industry on the national level. He was vice-president and director of the Bald Mountain Mining Co., former director and member of the executive committee of the McCloud River Lumber Co., and director of Malco Refineries, Inc. Mr. Curtis was instrumental in the organization of the Clinton Traffic Bureau and the Clinton Commercial club, which later became the Chamber of Commerce. G.L. Curtis was born Aug. 23, 1878 in Clinton, the son of George Martin and Etta Lewis Curtis. He married Frances Wilcox of Clinton in 1900, who died in 1924. In 1935 he married Alice Holmes of Clinton. Fraternally, he was a member of DeMolay Cosistory emulation Lodge, 255, A.F. and A.M., and Kaaba Shrine. He also was a member of the Chicago Club, Clinton Chamber of Commerce and the Clinton and Tucson Country clubs. A graduate of Clinton public schools, he also attended Williston Academy at Easthampton, Mass., and Yale university. For 40 years he served as a director of the City National bank and held the offices of both vice-president and president. During the first World War he was chairman for the war service committee for the millwork industry. He had been a trustee of the Presbyterian church, chairman of the board of the Y.W.C.A. and a trustee of Jane Lamb hospital. Surviving are his wife; three children, Mrs. Elizabeth C. Murphy of Tucson, Ariz.; George M. Curtis II of Clinton and Mrs. Louis C. Curtis of Petoskey, Mich; and eight grand-children. A brother, E.J. Curtis, of Clinton died Feb. 28, 1951.