Curtis Eugene Stewart

LHS '66

November 4, 1947 - November 16, 2025

On November 16, 2025, at Huntsville Hospital, our beloved husband and loving father, Curtis Eugene Stewart, 78, of Double Springs Alabama, entered into the gates of Heaven and into the arms of Jesus for eternal healing. Curtis was born November 04,1947, to Willis Curtis Stewart and Ruby Shelton Stewart in Huntsville, Alabama.

He graduated from Lee High School in 1966 and immediately became employed by South Central Bell. On August 9, 1967, he was inducted into the US ARMY. He proudly served with the rank of E4 with the Heavy Artillery Division during the Vietnam War Tet Offensive. He was afforded the opportunity to attend Officer Candidate School but chose to come back home after his tour in Vietnam.  He served to the end of his service traveling the United States with the US ARMY HONOR GUARDS. Curtis received numerous Honors for his service:  National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal with two Bronze Stars, Vietnam Campaign Medal with 1960 DEVICE, Marksman RIFLE M 14, Expert RIFLE M 16, 2 O/S BARS, and ARMY Commendation Medal. 

Upon discharge from the military, he returned home to marry the love of his life, Paula Sharp Stewart on November 28, 1970. He also returned to work with South Central Bell for eighteen years. Curtis attended Calhoun Community College where he graduated with an Associate’s Degree in Business Administration. Upon his retirement from South Central Bell, he became an independent communication contractor for the University of Alabama Huntsville until 2018. In 2019, he was able to fulfill his life dream, retiring to the lake with his soulmate of almost 65 years. He thoroughly enjoyed being outside encompassed by the beauties of nature, the serenity and peacefulness of the lake, and fishing. He developed a love for Solitaire, reading, following the news, and researching cures for ILD. He became a master chef and created amazing meals each and every day. He was an avid Alabama fan, which he proudly portrayed in his downstairs family room.

He enjoyed spending time with his wife, his children and grandchildren, his cousin Wilma Lewter, and his neighbors and friends. He never met a stranger and always was willing to talk, to help, to offer support, to love. 

Curtis was preceded in death by his mother, Ruby Shelton Stewart and his father Willis Curtis “Pete” Stewart.  He is survived by his loving and devoted wife of 55 years, Paula Sharp Stewart, their children William David Stewart (Amy), Christopher Michael Stewart (Brandy), Tracey Michelle Stewart Wilks, Jonathan Brian Stewart (Debra), Timothy Patrick Stewart, Jeremy Daniel Stewart, Gregory Alan Stewart, and Chelsey Nicole Stewart Kahler. He is also survived by his much loved grandchildren who affectionately called him “PaPa Curtis”: Gavin, McKenzie, Landon, Cheyenne, Kayden, Juliet, Ellis, and Jude. Curtis will be remembered for his kindness, unwavering integrity, and love for his family. His laughter and wisdom were gifts to everyone who knew him. He was the source of strength and stability to his family. He always offered the assurance that everything was going to be ok. He will be so missed by everyone each and every day. By the Grace of God, his legacy will continue shining brightly through his children, his grandchildren, and all those whose lives he touched.

Visitation

Wednesday

November 26, 2025

1:00 PM to 2:00 PM

Spry Funeral Home of Huntsville

2411 Memorial Parkway NW

Huntsville, AL 35810

Celebration of Life

Wednesday

November 26, 2025

2:00 PM to 3:00 PM

Spry Funeral Home of Huntsville

Eddie Wright Paulette

LHS '64

November 18, 1946 - November 15, 2025

(An email from Mike Acree)

Ed Paulette's son, Martin, called me from Sweden at 8:00 this morning to say that his father died last Saturday.  For about the last 10 years, his cognitive faculties had been deteriorating; his wife Elisabeth Hultcrantz, who is a doctor, says it was Alzheimer's.  He wasn't evidently in pain, but was frustratingly aware that he couldn't communicate as he wished.  The last time I saw him, in June 2021, I think, his word-finding abilities didn't seem to be much worse than for most of us.  On that occasion, Martin and his sister Linda brought him to Tampa to visit his younger sister Linda, and invited me to join them from Tennessee.  Elisabeth would have preferred to care for him at home, but the Swedish government requires special permission before anyone can work more than 25 hours a week on a contract basis (I guess if the socialist government is paying for the nursing home, they need to make sure people use them.); so he spent his last year or so in a nursing home, and the family visited him often.

Ed met Elisabeth about 45 years ago in Michigan, at a ski resort; Ed was studying computer programming in Ann Arbor, and Elisabeth was in Ann Arbor on a graduate fellowship from Uppsala.  It was Elisabeth's 7-year-old daughter Monica who brought them together.  Ed soon married Elisabeth and moved to Uppsala, and worked as the IT person for the Department of Theology at the university.  He was always diligent about learning Swedish; the last time I went to Sweden, in 2014, for his daughter Karin's wedding on Gotland, his Swedish seemed quite fluent to me.  His kids have been raised bilingual.

Martin visited me in 2007 in San Francisco with three of his friends from Sweden, and were great hiking companions.  Martin had skipped college to go straight into investment banking; at that time, at the age of 23, he was managing $20 million in accounts, and his second car was a Bentley.  I can also say with some confidence that he is the best dancer in the entire world of investment banking.  

From my perspective, and from the enjoyment I derived from it, Ed's life looks like a life very well lived.  Services are planned for December 12.

Thanksgiving Reflections

Tommy Towery

LHS '64

Thanksgiving has never been a big celebrated holiday for me. Growing up my holiday was never a Norman Rockwell household sitting around a grand turkey dinner with all the relatives. As a matter of fact, I cannot even remember having turkey for dinner prior to my senior year at Lee. Chicken and dressing comes to mind easier. Even then it was not a memorable one to share with my friends and classmates. I was not even home in Huntsville in 1963. I had traveled to Memphis.

The bus ride to Memphis was my form of transportation to spend the Thanksgiving holidays with my mother and step-father. During my junior year in high school my mother married an electrician who was working on a contract job in the construction of Werner Von Braun’s new office building being built on Redstone Arsenal. When the job was finished he returned to Memphis and took his new bride with him. Since I was approaching my senior year in high school and had no desire to spend the most important year of my school days as a new guy with no friends in a new school, it was agreed I could stay in Huntsville and live with my grandmother so I could graduate with my own class. She worked as a short order cook at The Rebel Inn, starting at 4pm and getting off at 10pm. That left me alone at home while she worked.

I had never flown on a commercial aircraft in my life, mainly because of the expense, and so the Trailways bus was my family’s normal commercial transportation option. The bus ride from Huntsville to Memphis was about six and a half hours and stopped in almost every town and some wide spots in the road in Northern Alabama and North Mississippi on the trip to the Bluff City. It was sometimes a boring ride, but it was a simple way to get from point A to point B without costing a lot of money. I usually enjoyed the trip.

In 1963 we watched the traditional Thanksgiving football games on a 21” black and white monster of a television set. It was a monster not because of its screen size, but in the weight of the wooden cabinet and the large collection of tubes and wires inside, highlighted by an extremely heavy picture tube. The signal was received through a roof-mounted antenna and there were only three networks from which to choose, and no remote control to change the channel should you decide to watch a different show. You had to get up and walk across the room and manually turn the mechanical channel selector knob to change the channel and likewise turn the volume control to increase or decrease the sound. Other knobs available on televisions included horizontal and vertical hold, brightness and contrast, and a fine tuning knob to adjust the signal and picture quality.

Here are a few sentences written in "A Million Tomorrows...Memories of the Class of '64" about that holiday. I remind you this was the memories about my daily journal entries from 1963-1964, reflected on 25 years later in 1988. 

That was my first Thanksgiving in Memphis.  The trip I made to see where the house would be built led to an empty lot on a muddy street with no paving.  It was at the back of a new subdivision and was away from everything.  It was the farthest you could get back in the Rose Valley subdivision.  The house that was being built cost $12,500.  It was a three-bedroom, one-bath, home with a living room, a dining room, a kitchen and a single-car carport.  At the time I didn't comprehend that in less than a year the muddy lot on the muddy street would be developed into the home into which I would move after graduation.

I wrote "It rains outside" in my journal that night.  Tonight it does not rain outside, but inside it does rain a little.  A lot has happened since that night.  A lot of the people I associated with on that day are no longer alive.  It rains for the memories of those who were with me back in 1963 and today are not.  Even with the sorrow and the pain, there is still a little smile.  There is a little glow brought about by reflecting on the emotions of the seventeen-year-old boy who wrote the words in the journal.

This year Sue and I will be celebrating what I have come to call a "Picadilly Thanksgiving". With none of our kids or grandkids living close, it will be just the two of us. We have decided to just go to the cafeteria and buy our Thanksgiving dinner there and bring it home. We will sit around and watch football on a 70" color TV this year. A few things have progressed since 1963.

The Wayback Machine

"Radar Men from the Moon"

 Chapter 12 - Death of the Moon Man

We continue the serial this week, just like they did back in the movies during our times.

I actually though many more of you would share your memories of the day Kennedy was killed, but I only had one response, and that was from a 1971 classmate. 

Last Week's Questions, Answers, And Comments

Delores McBride Kilgore, LHS '66 , "Love it."

Nell Rose Brooks Brackett, LHS ‘71, "I was in the 5th grade at Chapman. Mrs. Stewart was my teacher. I remember the notification of President  Kennedy’s death coming over the intercom. I still remember that so clearly. We were all in shock. They let us out of school early . I think that was the first time we had news all day. Thank you so much for all your memories."

Don Stroud, LHS ‘65, "Good morning Tommy, Congratulations and thanks for this year's Veteran's Article and music.It appears that maybe you should hook up with Jim McBride for song writing collaboration. Your song was very moving as was this year's Veteran Tribute. I really don't know what our Famillee would do without your weekly edition. Thank you so very much for all your effort and the many hours spent providing the news for us. Bless my Mother's heart  but when I visited her each Sunday her first request  was always,"Where is Tommy's Traveller?" I thank you so much for the many memories that you  brought to her Tommy."