HERMAN M CURTIS
Oct 2, 1954

Herman M Curtis, 73, of 630 College avenue an esteemed life-long resident of Mt. Vernon and vicinity and a representative of early South Posey county families died at 1:40 a.m. today in the Deaconess Hospital in Evanville.

He had been ill for a period of only 15 days but in critical condition during the entire time.  Originally his illness was diagnosed as leukemia.  A post-mortem autopsy has been performed to determine the exact cause of death.

The body is at the Short Niehaus Funeral Home and will remain there through the funeral service set for 2 p.m. Monday in the Short-Niehaus chapel.  Officiating clergymen will be Rev. J. Kenneth Forbes, minister of First Methodist Church in Mt. Vernon and Rev. Floyd S. Stephens, pastor of the South Vernon Methodist Parish.  Burial will be in the cemetery of Black Chapel, of which the deceased was a regular attendee and in whose activities he had taken a prominent role.

Surviving are the wife, nee Mabel Rhodes, of Mt. Vernon whose marriage to Mr. Curtis extended over a period of almost 45 years; four children, Mrs. Adriel Schaffer, Francis Curtis, Mrs. Carl Keitel and Mrs. Robert Hast, all of Mt. Vernon; eight grandchildren and one great grandchild; two sisters, Mrs. George Henderson, Mt. Vernon, and Mrs. Edgar Wood, Lawrenceville, Ill., and four brothers, Paul Curtis, Detroit, and Raymond, Wilford and Ralph Curtis of the Mt. Vernon community.

Mr. Curtis was a farmer in Western Black township for the greater part of his life.  He was a son of Frank Curtis and Sarah Russell Curtis, members of pioneer local families.

Following his years as a farmer, he moved to Mt. Vernon and for nine years was employed by the Posey County Farm Bureau Co-op retiring in 1945.

The deceased was a Gold Star father.  A son, Pvt. John E. Curtis, was a fatality of World War II in a Pacific theater.

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Originally submitted by Betty Sellers