F. K. “King” Curtis

June 5, 1930 – September 6, 2016

Frederick Kingsbury Curtis “King” was born June 5, 1930 in New York City to Helen Kingsbury Curtis and Herbert Pelham Curtis. He passed away September 6, 2016 at his apartment at the Madrona House. He was the first of four. The family lived in Tuxedo Park, New York and then New Canaan, Connecticut, with a brief time in Toledo, Ohio during World War II.

He attended Dalton School in New York City and then New Canaan Country Day School. He attended St. Paul’s School High School. One of his endeavors while at St. Paul’s was starting the ski team, long before chairlifts; the purpose being to hike the hills faster than the coaches, thus giving him and his teammates time for a cigarette before skiing down.

After graduation from high school, he attended Yale University majoring in physics and music theory. He then attended Columbia Medical School for his graduate training.

While living in New York City, he met Lois Mossman on a ski trip to Vermont. Their friends knew it was serious as King, an avid skiier, gave up a day of skiing to stay with Lois in the lodge. He and Lois married three months after that trip.

King’s service in the U.S. Navy led the couple to San Diego. Traveling west in their Volkswagen bug, Lois first encountered King’s obsession with rigorous scheduling when he resented having to take breaks from the road.

When King shipped out for his tour of duty in the waters of Asia, Lois took the opportunity to explore the continent by following him from port to port to be there when he got shore leave.

On his return to San Diego they settled in a small cottage on Coronado. With his discharge from the Navy, and a new son, Douglas, in tow, the family moved to the Pacific Northwest, settling on Mercer Island, Washington, while King completed his residency in nephrology at the University of Washington and the Veteran’s Administration Hospital in Seattle. During that time he and Lois had three more children, Spencer, Charlie, and Helen. The family moved to Bainbridge Island in the Spring of 1963.

King stayed with the VA for entire career, working on teams focused on the development of the artificial kidney machine that was the precursor to the kidney dialysis treatments of today. During his tenure at the VA he rose to fill the role of assistant administrator while teaching at the UW as an adjunct professor in the medical school. He retired from the VA in 1984 in order to pursue his dream of sailing to the South Pacific.

An avid and accomplished sailor since his youth, King pursued his passion in the waters of Puget Sound and beyond. From the early years in Seattle, King would take the family on sailing trips north into the far reaches of British Columbia. His pursuit of open water and new adventures eventually led the family on trips in the B.C. inland passage to the Queen Charlotte Islands, the west side of Vancouver Island, and southeast Alaska up to Glacier Bay.

His firm command gave everyone in the family and crew a sense of the duties and chores of running a vessel. The wonders of navigating these beautiful waters gave much joy for the entire family even as nascent teenagers groused of social deprivation.

A fitting culmination to these northern trips was the ultimate adventure he and Lois took sailing to New Zealand. This two-year odyssey took them down the west coast and Mexico, across the Pacific (in a 23 day ocean crossing), down to Tahiti and through the Polynesian Islands and the Moreas to the final destination in New Zealand.

Along the way they were supported by two former high school classmates of Charlie, Carla Thatcher and Larry Miller, as well as a variety of friends and children who came along for short stints as they traveled south. After shipping the boat back from New Zealand, as planned, Lois vowed never to spend more than a month on a boat ever again. Her promise did not preclude enjoying many more trips up to northern British Columbia while always with one foot firmly planted back at their home on Bainbridge Island.

Besides sailing, King’s other passion was for his garden, which grew in size and complexity, especially after his return from New Zealand. To give equal share to each passion – sailing and his garden – King allowed his inventive spirit to run wild in the garden. He established an automated watering system long before you could buy them off the shelf at Home Depot. This allowed him to nurture his seedlings in his rooftop greenhouse, through their early plantings under cold frames, till they were established in the raised beds of the ¼ acre garden in the upper field.

Sailing would return for July and he would leave behind detailed garden care instructions. On his return in August, after grousing about the weeds and lettuce that may have bolted in the summer heat, he would settle in to tending his crops and presenting Lois with piles of beans and tomatoes that absolutely had to be eaten fresh that night. Many a neighbor enjoyed the success of his efforts as the garden produced far more than the two of them could eat.

A complicated inventive person, King could come across as the ultimate curmudgeon. Gruff at times, but sweet to the core; he never could stand to see a cat play with a mouse. King had a way of seeing the path to solutions of problems whether mechanical puzzles or the twists and turns of life. His council, intelligence, humor and loyalty will be greatly missed by his wife Lois; children Doug, Spencer, Charlie and Helen; 6 grandchildren; and siblings Francis Hardie, John Curtis, and Anne Curtis. In lieu of flowers please make a contribution to Helpline on Bainbridge Island.

Memorial for family and friends – November 12, 11:30am – 2pm, at Manor House Restaurant on Bainbridge.