Gary Allan Curtis passed away peacefully in his home on Friday, August 2, 2024. He was 89 years old. He was born on the 4th of May in 1935, in Jacksonville, Illinois to Charles Russell Curtis and Annette Eva McLean Curtis.

Gary chose to dedicate his life to serving members of the deaf community. Growing up Gary was very close with and greatly influenced by his grandfather who was deaf. In all, he had eight relatives who were deaf, all of whom lived in his Jacksonville neighborhood. After earning his BA degree in English and German, and lettering in three sports at Illinois College, Gary was inducted into the IC Sports Hall of Fame. He obtained an MS degree in Special Education Administration from Gallaudet College. He then taught language and composition to middle school students at the American School for the Deaf (ASD) and coached the ASD Tigers football team. Later Gary was a supervising teacher at the West Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind and at the Indiana School for the Deaf. Later he rose to become the Assistant Executive Director and Headmaster of the American School for the Deaf.

When Gary was just 37, he was hired to be Superintendent of the Texas School for the Deaf in Austin, Texas. He was later appointed by the Commissioner of Education with the Texas Education Agency to be the first Director of Deaf Services for the state where he served until his retirement in 1995. Gary was instrumental in designing, developing and implementing many improvements for the educational programs in Texas. This included standardizing sign language for use in instructional programs and working with the medical community on the crucial issue of early identification and follow-up care for deaf infants.

In 1972 Gary received a Cogswell award from the American School for the Deaf for Distinguished Service to the Deaf. Additionally in 1991, for his many career achievements, he was awarded the National Council on Communicative Disorder's Distinguished Service Award in Washington, D.C.

Gary was preceded in death by his beloved wife, Betty Birdsell Curtis; his loving parents; his brothers Harold, of St. Louis, MO, Kenneth, of Jacksonville, IL, his sister Barbara Crews, of Dayton, OH, and his sister Doris Kaiser, of Alexander, IL. He leaves to cherish his memory his sisters Janet Lynn and Jeanette Dolen of Winchester, IL; his children Robin (John) Curtis Miller of Patterson, NY; Tad (Ivy) Curtis of Austin, TX; daughter Perri (Gary) Robinette of Horseshoe Bay, TX; and son Grant Curtis of Austin, TX; his grandchildren Daniel Robinette, Katherine (Rudy) Garcia, and Charnelle (Charles) Love; and six great-grandchildren.

Funeral services will be held at the Buchanan & Cody Funeral Home in Jacksonville, Illinois on August 24, 2024, at 2:00 p.m.; and at the Harrell Funeral Home at 4435 Frontier Trail, Austin, Texas 78745 on September 28, 2024, at 2:00 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, Gary's family requests that donations be made to the Gary Curtis Scholarship at The Texas Association of Parents and Educators of the Deaf (TAPED) Donations may be made online: https://taped.org/, or by mail to the attention of:

Dan Diffee, 3001 Elsinor Drive, Fort Worth, Texas 76116