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

Gary chose a life of service to the deaf in response to the influence of his deaf grandfather with whom he spent much time as a youth. 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 American School for the Deaf and coached the ASD Tigers football team. Later Gary was a supervising teacher at West Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind and at the Indiana School for the Deaf, then became Assistant Executive Director and Headmaster of American School for the Deaf. At just age 37 he became superintendent of the Texas School for the Deaf in Austin. Gary was later hired by the Texas Education Agency to be the first Director of Deaf Services for the state and served until 1995. He was instrumental in designing, developing and implementing many improvements for the educational programs in Texas, including 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 ASD for Distinguished Service to the Deaf and 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 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, 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) https://taped.org/, or mailed to the attention of Dan Diffee, 3001 Elsinor Drive, Fort Worth, Texas 76216. (contact: ddiffee@aol.com).