Mrs. Dorothy Snell Curtis, 87, a resident of Alna since 1982, died Sept. 19 at The Monarch Center of Saco. She had Frontotemporal Dementia.
Born Dorothy Jean Snell in St. Paul, Minn., Nov. 11, 1922, to George F. and Clara S. Snell, Mrs. Curtis resided there until her parents moved to Takoma Park, Md. in 1937.
Granddaughter of noted St. Paul ice skate maker, John E. Strauss Sr., Mrs. Curtis began figure skating at an early age, advancing to compete and medal at the national level, in novice, junior and senior competitions. She turned professional at 18 and taught figure skating from 1940 to 1960. She last taught for the Washington Figure Skating Club in Washington, D.C.’s Uline Arena rink. She skated with her father and by herself in performances of a local Minnesota ice follies and made guest appearances in other local and touring ice shows, including the Shipstad and Johnson Ice Follies.
Mrs. Curtis received an associate degree from Washington Seminary College and was accepted to Brown University but did not attend.
Most of her working career was spent on Capitol Hill, first on the staff of U.S. Senator Joseph Ball (D-Minn.) for whom she worked about two years. After a brief stint at the steamship company, United States Lines, she returned to the Hill to work for the next six years on the staff of Senator James Murray (D-Mont.) and, under his patronage, on the Senate Interior Committee staff, of which Murray was chairman. She left the Interior Committee to work for Senator Albert Gore, Sr. (D-Tenn.) for another six years before joining the staff of Senator Lee Metcalf (D-Mont.), where she served as Legislative Assistant, specializing in social, educational and Native American affairs, until she retired about 10 years later. After retiring, she returned to the Hill to work a few more years on the staff of a joint Senate and House committee studying a proposed reorganization of Congress.
Mrs. Curtis was married twice, both marriages ending in divorce. Her first husband, William T. Curtis, was a captain in the British Royal Army. They married in 1943 and lived in Arlington, Va. In 1961, Mrs. Curtis married Milton Tenenbaum, a chemist with the U.S. National Bureau of Standards. They lived in Washington, D.C. and Kensington, Md. Mrs. Curtis later resumed her first married name.
A superb cook, avid reader and knowledgeable gardener, Mrs. Curtis played tennis into her early 80s and followed televised tennis and figure skating competitions with the informed devotion of participant, teacher, analyst and critic.
Mrs. Curtis is survived by cousins Donald Eyinck and Lois Eyinck; son, William H. Curtis, of her first marriage; daughter, Annie M. T. Mozer, of her second; four grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research/Frontotemporal Dementia.
