Justin (Curt) & JoAnn Curtis

Justin, known to most of us here at Blacklake as Curt, was born in Albany, N.Y.  Curt’s father was a letter carrier and his Mom, educated as a teacher, was a full time homemaker.  Curt is the oldest of 3 children. His sister, 3 years younger, was killed by a drunk driver in 1985. His brother, 16 years younger, is Tax Assessor for Rensselaer County in up-state New York.  When Curt was about 10, they moved to rural Rensselaer County to a homestead that still remains in his family (Curt’s parents are deceased but his niece now lives in the house).  When they first made the move, there was definite culture shock, as the house at that time had no indoor bathroom or hot water.  So the first winter was pretty rough, before he helped his father install the modern conveniences during the next year.  Curt rode the bus to a rural central school where he remained through high school graduation.  He was the valedictorian of his class of 69.  During his school years, he was active in Scouts, becoming an eagle scout, and in 4H along with being an acolyte in his church. One fond memory of that time was riding their family horse or riding in a buckboard or sleigh depending on the time of year.
Upon graduation, Curt received a New York State scholarship and went to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI – also the alma mater of fellow Gyro Alan Noll) with a major in electrical engineering.  During his time at RPI, Curt joined the Air Force ROTC (he wanted to be a pilot but unfortunately lacked the 20/20 vision to qualify).  He admits he also went to a lot of fraternity parties while in college.  He received an additional scholarship from Square D Corporation and spent a summer working for them in Milwaukee in 1958 and again worked for them in Cleveland in 1959.  Upon graduation with a BEE (Bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering) in 1960, he was also commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the Air Force.  He requested a 1-year deferment and along with two buddies traveled cross-country to go to work for Boeing in Seattle as a computer programmer.  While there he was accepted into graduate school at the University of Washington, only to be called up for active duty.  His first assignment was at Vandenberg, so he bought a XK-120 Jag roadster and drove down to Vandenberg on Hwy 1.  It was an opportune time for engineers at Vandenberg and he was assigned to the silo-based Atlas F program and then, a year later, selected to be the electrical officer for the all blue-suit Scout Launch Team where he had responsibility for about 30 enlisted men. During this program, they launched 11 satellites, although he admits they didn’t all succeed.  He had the honor of being the Launch Conductor for the first All Lieutenant Launch Team for a NASA satellite gravity experiment, where he became known as the fastest abort in the West.  He spent 4 years at Vandenberg.   It was in 1963 that he got rid of his Jag and decided to buy a ‘62 Corvette convertible.  In December, he and some of his friends were at the Officer’s Club to take advantage of the free eggnog bowl and that is when his life really changed.  It was during this evening at the Officer’s Club that he was smitten when JoAnn walked in the room with a couple of her friends.  Before the evening was over, they all made arrangements to meet between Christmas and New Year’s at the club and anxious to impress, Curt decided to be the big spender and buy drinks for everyone.  The three couples decided to have dinner and conveniently, his two buddies disappeared till after dinner and Curt ended up with all three girls for dinner.  As fate would have it, Curt and JoAnn began dating and by February had decided marriage was in their future. And so on Dec. 18, 1964 they married at the Santa Maria Presbyterian church and then had their reception at the Officer’s Club after their honeymoon before settling in Lompoc JoAnn was born in Lompoc.  Her father’s family was originally from Kansas and her mother’s family came from Denmark via Idaho and Utah.  JoAnn’s father farmed about 360 acres of sugar beets and lima beans in the Lompoc area.  JoAnn was the middle of 3 daughters and was active growing up in Campfire, 4H, Rainbow, and sports along with working on the farm during the summer.  With her Danish ancestry, JoAnn also spent many happy Saturdays in Solvang refining her taste buds for pastries. When she was in the 7th or 8th grade, they moved into town where they remained through her junior year in high school when they made the move to Santa Maria.  Both of JoAnn’s parents are now deceased, as is her younger sister.  Her older sister, Judith, is a commercial artist in Santa Barbara who has painted names on most of the boats in Santa Barbara harbor. JoAnn graduated from Santa Maria High and then went on to Junior college for a while before deciding to go to work at Vandenberg for Convair (now General Dynamics).  After about a year, she moved to San Francisco where she became a teletype operator in the banking industry. Approximately 2 years later, she returned to Santa Maria and went to work for Boeing.  She was very excited to see the first Atlas launch during her tenure with Convair and the first Minuteman launch while she worked for Boeing. Not long after their marriage, they relocated to Wright-Patterson AFB, Dayton, Ohio where Curt entered the Air Force Institute of Technology where he received his Master’s in Astronautics.  Curt’s career began to advance as he was promoted to Major 3 years early. Given a choice of taking over an operation in Vietnam or working on his Doctorate, he chose to continue his education.  After completing his coursework and becoming a Doctoral candidate, he decided he really was more interested in engineering than becoming a physicist and so did not complete his doctorate. It was during this time that their two children were born – a daughter Jeryl in 1966 and a son Justin, Jr. in 1968.  Following a tour at the Aerospace Research Laboratory, Curt was assigned to Air Command and Staff College in Montgomery, Alabama.  After a year, he was assigned   to the Space and Missile Systems Organization in Los Angeles where he spent 6 years working on the embryonic STAR WARS program.  From there, it was on to Norton AFB working in the Inspector General group for another 3 years (the only time he managed to get overseas during his career, with a couple of trips to Germany and England).  While at Space Division, he made Lieutenant Colonel and moved up to full Colonel while at the IG.  Culminating his Air Force career, he went back to Space Division in El Segundo for 5 years, first as Deputy and then as System Program Director of the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program, a $2 billion program launched from Vandenberg to provide weather data to all defense agencies.  Finally in December 1986 he retired from active duty with 27 years of service. It was during his time as Director, when he was commuting from Redlands to L.A., that Curt and JoAnn bought their first motorhome, a passion that now occupies much of their time.  Obviously, in 1986, Curt was too young to really retire, so he began consulting and then went to work for SPARTA, in STAR WARS, flight test, and other military contracts, ultimately retiring as a “rocket scientist” in 2002. JoAnn felt privileged to be able to stay home with the kids while they were growing up, but that certainly didn’t mean she wasn’t active.  She was a Red Cross volunteer over about a ten year period at military hospitals, was active in the Officers Wives club, bowling, PTA, and supporting all of the kids activities, including swim team, soccer, and baseball.  Jeryl and her husband now live in Brentwood in Northern California and have 3 children (13, 11, and 9) and son J.J. and wife Tracy live in Castaic and have 2 small sons (3 and 1, including the third generation of Justins in the family). Curt and JoAnn bought their house at Blacklake in 2000 but did not move here until 2001 once Curt was really ready to retire.  Of course, retirement is a relative word with these two.  In addition to their camping activities (they started in the 70’s with a tent trailer and have come a long way in terms of comfort with their new Monaco Class A motorhome), they are active in Newcomers, Blacklake RV club, Monaco RV group, Gyros and are both golfers.  Curt is also our current representative on the NCAC, President of the Legends Association, and does tax preparation and homeowners/renters assistance, while JoAnn also knits and belongs to a couple of Bunco groups.  Their Airedale, Gabby, often travels with them in the motorhome and a couple of their favorite trips include one to Canada and the Northwest last year and a cruise out of New York 2 weeks after 9/11.  Curt and JoAnn definitely fit the description of active retirees!