Obituary of Curtis Schrimp

Curtis Schrimp was born in Monmouth, Illinois, January 19, 1915, the sixth child of Charles and Nellie Schrimp. After the death of his father, he came to Wild Horse with his mother and two sister, Ruby and Dorothy. Curtis worked for Charlie Fox and the wild west stories were so many no one could remember them all but Curtis remembered quite a few and was a great story teller. Work was hard but when Saturday came there was always a dance. Sunday afternoon there was always a baseball game. He loved dancing and he loved playing baseball and later on watching the Rockies on TV. November 19, 1938, Curtis married Leona Golberg. They lived with and worked for Leona’s folks for a year when they bought the section west of the folks. The old Fox house was rolled over the prairie with the help of neighbors to their land. In 1946, Curtis had been working for Fred Shade trucking and he decided to leave the place and try trucking and the gas station business. With Lees Cafe, they had a business hard to describe. They made an endless amount of friends and many new stories were made to tell. Curtis also farmed sudan seed for sale and feed for cattle. Curtis and Leona’s first child , David Joel was born in 1949 and only lived a day. Then Steven Wayne came along in 1950 and Martha Jean in 1952. LeeAnn Marie was born in 1956. Every summer the family would take a vacation either to the mountains to fish or somewhere to visit family. It was important to him to attend school and sport activities for his children. He enjoyed playing catch with his kids. Visiting friends and playing cards were favorite past times. Living close to the highway Curtis lent a helping hand to many people in need. He served on the Kit Carson School Board and drove a school bus route and for many Senior sneak trips. After the kids were grown, they sold the trucking business and rented the Goodier place to run a herd of cattle. Marty eventually bought the ranch and he mentored her. He travelled many times to Norway to visit LeeAnn and family and learned much of the culture there making friends without knowing the language just with his smile and his cowboy hat and boots. Many trips to Denver to visit Steve and his family and likewise Steve’s family traveled to Wild Horse for family visits, cutting wood, eating good food and quality family time. He started writing a newspaper column after Leona quit writing. It brought him so much pleasure to write the Wild Horse news along with telling stories of the old days. His hat always fit a little tight when he receiving complements on his writing. He took the writing of his newspaper column very serious Curtis sang, he sang to his wife, kids, his grandkids and great grandkids. He also sang for weddings, funerals, shivarees and melodramas. Just a word or name would remind him of a song and he knew a lot of them. Curtis had a lifelong faith in Jesus Christ. As a boy he was a member of the first Baptist Church and later served in the Salvation Army with his mom. He was member of Our Saviors Lutheran Church until his passing. Reading his bible every day was important to Curtis. In later years he took over caring for Leona and helping Marty. Curtis did chores down at the ranch with his buddy, Rusty, up until recently. His neighbors made it possible for him to live at home. Curtis was preceded in death by his parents Charles and Nellie and siblings Jim, George, Clarence, Clifford, and Fredrik, Lois, Florence, Ruby and Dorothy, his wife Leona, son David, daughter, Marty. He is survived by son, Steve and daughter, LeeAnn, son in law, daughter in law, 6 grandchildren and 13 great grandchildren.