Marie Curtis

Marie Helen Spillman Curtis, age 92, of Corning, Iowa died on Thursday, September 13, 2012. She was the daughter of Earl Spillman and Helen Cady Johnson Spillman, born on December 25, 1919 at Gordon, Nebraska.
Marie was united in marriage to James Charles Curtis on October 20, 1934 in Shenandoah, Iowa. The couple first started farming in Nodaway, Iowa where James Garry was born in 1937. Shirley Elizabeth was born in 1940 and Dianne Lee in 1942. Charlie and Marie moved to Ellston, Iowa in 1944 where Luanne was born in 1946. The family then moved to the family farm at Guss, Iowa and Brian was born in 1950, where the family lived until 1956. From 1956 to 1960 they lived in Tucumcari, New Mexico where Marie was a waitress at the Ramada Inn and the Holiday Inn. In 1960 the family returned to their farm at Guss where they lived until their return to Tucumcari in 1971 after Charlie became disabled. Charlie passed away in 1975.
When Marie retired she helped as many as seventeen “shut-ins”. Marie would take them homemade cookies and would run errands for them. She was very active in her church and made a two-week mission trip to Brazil in 1981 through her church. Every year Marie enjoyed spending time with her sister Jean and husband Poly tracing genealogy.
In April of 2007, Marie moved to Massena, Iowa and resided with her daughter Luanne and son-in-law Larry Johannes.
Marie was known for her love of family and friends, pies and especially her love for her Lord and Savior. She was a member of the Grace Baptist Church in Corning, Iowa. She always had a large garden in Iowa to feed her family and did a great deal of canning of vegetables and fruits in Iowa and New Mexico.
Marie is survived by her son, Jim and Carolyn Curtis of Corning, Iowa; daughters: Shirley and Ron Metzger of Holiday Island, Arkansas, Dianne Meeks of Tucumcari, New Mexico, Luanne and Larry Johannes of Massena, Iowa; son, Brian Curtis of Harvard, Nebraska; thirteen grandchildren; five step-grandchildren; forty-one great-grandchildren; sisters-in-law: Myrtle Johnson and Ruth Spillman; and a host of nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends.
She was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Charlie; parents-in-law; three brothers: Julias Johnson, Frank Johnson and Merle Spillman; two sisters: Esther Reno and Jean Poulson; son-in-law, Kenneth Meeks, granddaughter, Jana Volle and grandson, James “Tuffy” Hartsfield.