PVT. LEO CURTIS
December 8, 1919-April 18, 1945
Niles Daily Star, Monday, June 18, 1945, page 2, col. 7; microfilm Niles District Library
Memorial Rites Held for Pvt. Leo Curtis, 25
During memorial services in St. Paul's Lutheran church at 10:30 Sunday morning for Pvt. Leo Curtis, 25, who died April 18 of wounds suffered while in action in Germany with an infantry division, the Rev. Theodore Laesch, pastor, spoke on “God's Ways are Bets”, to members of the congregation and the family of Pvt. Curtis and his many friends who gathered.
“Be Still My Soul” by Sibelius, was sung by the church choir. Throughout the service a picture of Pvt. Curtis stood on a pedestal in the front of the church beside an American flag.
He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. O.R. Curtis, rural route four, and his wife, Carol, and his son, Lee, live on rural route three.
Niles Daily Star, Monday, January 24, 1949, page 2, col. 7; microfilm Niles District Library
The remains of the late Pvt. Leo B. Curtis will arrive at 11:40 a.m. Wednesday from Germany for reburial here.
Pvt. Curtis, well-known here as an athlete at Niles high school, is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Ollie R. Curtis, rural route five, Niles. Curtis' record of 10.2 seconds for the 100 yard dash made in 1938 remains unbroken. In 1939 he attained 21 feet, three and one-half inches in the broad jump, and was an outstanding player on the Rutherford softball team.
He died of wounds suffered while in action in Germany on April 18, 1945,. Services will be conducted at 1:30 p.m. Thursday at the Pifer funeral home, where friends may call Wednesday evening.
Elder J.W. McKnight, pastor of the Latter Day Saints church at Galien, will officiate at the service and the American Legion post will have charge of graveside military rites. Burial will be in Silverbrook cemetery.
Besides his parents, Curtis leaves his widow, the former Carol Peterson, and a son, Lee, both of rural route three, Niles; a sister, Mrs. Cloyd Moore, of Niles, and two brothers, Miles O. Curtis, of Niles, and Everett Curtis, of South Bend.
He was born in Onarga, Ill., on Dec. 8, 1919, and came to Niles from Muskegon in 1923. A graduate of Niles high school with the class of 1940, he was inducted into the army on May 12, 1944, after working at the National Totalizator company here. He was sent overseas in November and served with the infantry in the first army.
His parents have received a letter of condolence from Mayor William O'Dwyer of New York City.