Former Atlantic Highlands Councilman and fire volunteer Walter Curry was honored by the fire department, the mayor and council and scores of friends at the fire house in celebration of his 80th birthday this week.
Happy Birthday
Mayor Loretta Gluckstein also presented the famed local resident with a proclamation “urging all residents to praise the extensive efforts of Mr. Curry and wish him a heartfelt happy birthday.”
Volunteerisim
The son of a former mayor and an outstanding leader in his own right for decades, Curry has served on the fire department for 60 years and was its chief in 1981, 1994 and 1995. Her served as an active member of the First Aid Squad for another 57 years and as a special police officer. He was first elected to council in 1975, serving in that capacity for five years, as well as serving as a harbor commissioner from 1987 through 2015.
Named as one of the most Outstanding Young Men of America in 1978, Curry was a teacher in the Middletown school system for 57 years and served as the faculty representatives t the NJEA. He has also served as a trustee in his church and is well known as superintendent of Bayview Cemetery where he is a member of the Board of Directors.
Proclamation
The proclamation read at Curry’s birthday celebration noted that few areas of community life have not been touched by Curry’s hands, as friends and family acknowledge with gratitude.
” His dedication to public service and the warmth with which he exhibits it is an inspiration to all of us.”
The formal ceremonies, however, had to take second place to the stories shared by so many and the praise of those who know Walter in so many different capacities because of his volunteerism.
Stories
Take former Mayor Fred Rast’s own stories, for instance.
Though he served on council after Curry, Rast grew up with the former councilman, their back yards abutting when the Rast family lived on Washington Ave. and the Curry’s on E. Highland. Th two boys were only a few months apart, Curry the older, and both remember the nights they camped together in the back yard, the family get togethers of both families whose parents taught each of their children the importance of giving back to the community, always pitching in, always doing their share.
The Rast and Curry families, as well as the Sheehans, go back for generations. Everett Curry was Fred Rast’s father’s shop teacher in Atlantic Highlands High school, before Everett went on to teach in the Middletown system. Numerous stories from firemen and municipal leaders and employees who have served for decades with Walter kept everyone laughing and recalling at this week’s happy event.
But Rast’s stories got into greater detail of the fun the boys had in their early teen and growing up years.
The story is familiar to most parents whose sons know where the liquor cabinet is in each of their homes and the thrill of sneaking something past their parents.
A Sip or Two
Rast remembers the nights the boys camped in the back yard, then, under the stars, crept into the Curry home to try a sip or two..or three..from one of the liquor bottles. So as not to be detected, they would replace what they drank with an equal amount of water. Like most boys, they continued growing up and moving on, always keeping in their backs of their minds the fun of sneaking something from their parents.
Curry’s father, Everett, was honored at a dinner in his later years, and the grown men realized their fathers were far smarter than they thought.
The senior Curry pointed out in his address at the event that he always thought that he could drink more alcohol as he get older….until he realized it wasn’t so, it was simply that his son and Fred had watered down his house supply.
As for all their years of service to the community, octogenarian Curry said at the event, “it’s how we grew up. It’s what everybody did.”
Walter Curry has done it well. And continues to do so!
