John Curry

John R. Curry passed to eternal life on January 15, 2024.

He was born to James David Curry and Eleanor Myers Curry on September 4, 1948 in Cleveland, Ohio. He spent his earliest years in Germany where his father served as an army doctor. The rest of his childhood was spent in Franklin, PA. He attended Westminster College in New Wilmington, PA where he met the love of his life, Linda. John and Linda would have celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary this year on August 31.

After graduating from Westminster in 1970, he went through Officer Training School and became an active duty air force officer in the fall of that year. John was a navigator on Rescue 130s in Thailand for a year, then on C140s at McGuire Air Force Base, NJ. The Air Force then sent John and Linda to Scott AFB, IL where he was Chief of the Military Airlift Command Nuclear Surety Division. While stationed at Scott AFB, John and Linda welcomed their two sons, James and Brian. The family next moved to Virginia where John worked at the Defense Nuclear Agency (DNA) as Chief of the Stockpile Management Division, and as Chief of the Nuclear Branch, Long Range Power Projection Division, and Assistant to the Secretary of the Air Force (Acquisition) at the Pentagon. In 1994, the family was transferred to Kirtland AFB in Albuquerque, where John was Chief of the Nuclear Weapons Integration Division. He retired from active duty as a colonel in 1997 after 27 years of dedicated service.

After so many moves, no one in the family wanted to move again, and John was able to continue working at Kirtland AFB, first as a contractor, and then as a civil servant at the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA). He "retired-retired" in 2013.

John is pre-deceased by his parents and his younger sister, Sue. He is survived by his wife Linda, his (step) mother Joyce, who raised him for most of his childhood and with whom he held a special bond, his sister Jane, his brothers David (Sara) and Bruce (Lisa), his sons Jim (Stephanie) and Brian (Monika), and his grandsons Gabriel and Dean. In addition, he is survived by many nieces and nephews.

John was a giving, caring person who loved to help anyone who needed him-and no one could make people laugh the way he did; he was always determined to make others smile, and had a never-ending supply of "dad jokes" he loved to share with everyone he met. John was one in a million, and he will be greatly missed by all who knew and loved him.

A Memorial Service will be held on Saturday, February 3rd, 2024 at 1:00 pm at Sandia Presbyterian Church 10704 Paseo Del Norte NE, Albuquerque, NM 87122.