Emily L. Curtis

View Video Tribute Emily L. Curtis, age 59, of Edon, Ohio, died at 2:45 a.m. on Friday, September 12, 2008, in her home after an extended illness. Mrs. Curtis was a graduate of Edon High School, Edon, Ohio. She received a bachelor’s degree in 1970 and a master’s degree in 1972, both in music education from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio. The founding president of Tau Beta Sigma, the national band women’s honorary sorority at Miami University of Ohio, Mrs. Curtis was also the first female instrumental graduate assistant in a Division I school in the United States at Miami University. She was a music teacher for 31 years, 27 of those years at Edgerton Local Schools, Edgerton, Ohio. She was named as the American Legion 2005 Teacher of the Year. Mrs. Curtis was also the founder of Operation Support Our Troops (OSOT), which to date has sent over 8,500 pounds of supplies, retailing at $1,260,000.00, to our men and women fighting overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan. The OSOT project in northwest Ohio and the tri-state area is an individual effort that Emily funded by giving talks to various organizations regarding the needs of our troops overseas. She, along with friends, then personally packed and shipped all of the boxes to various troops and chaplains for the units to share. She received many commendations from various units and bases overseas. Her memberships included St. Peter Lutheran Church, Edon, Ohio, where she served as organist and choir director for many years, American Legion Auxiliary, Edon, of which she served as chaplain, and Ohio Music Educators Association. Emily L. Curtis was born on October 12, 1948, in Angola, Indiana, the daughter of John D. and Eleanor A. (Knepper) Foster. She married Paul F. Curtis on May 27, 1978, in Edon, Ohio, and he survives. Surviving in addition to her husband are a daughter, Amanda Curtis, of Iowa City, Iowa, and a son, Captain Jonathan (Shelli) Curtis, serving in the United States Army in Fort Lewis, Washington, her mother, Eleanor Foster, one brother, Bill (Susan) Foster, and a niece, Claire Foster, all of Edon. She was preceded in death by her father. Services for Emily L. Curtis will be on Monday, September 15, 2008, at 11:00 a.m. in St. Peter Lutheran Church, Edon, Ohio, with Pastor Clayton Bailey officiating. Interment will follow in Edon Cemetery. Visitation will be in the Krill Funeral Home, Edon, Ohio, after 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, September 14. Memorials in the name of Emily L. Curtis may be given to the Emily Curtis Memorial Fund at Edon State Bank, Edon, Ohio. The family will use the memorials toward supporting the James Cancer Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, and our military at home and abroad.