Merlene G. Curtis

Merlene G. Curtis of Manchester, NH went to be with her Lord Jesus Christ on May 7, 2023, at Elliot Hospital after a brief illness. She was born on September 30, 1940, in Worcester, MA, the daughter of the late Merle Gilks and Elva (Morrison) Gilks. She grew up in North Grafton, MA and West Boylston, MA. She attended Wachusett Regional High School for three years and graduated from West Boylston High school. She was an active member of Bancroft Assembly of Rainbow Girls in Worcester, MA. She graduated from Westbrook Junior College in Maine and then on August 27, 1960, she married Alan Curtis on his 24^th birthday.

She became the loving stay-at-home mother of three wonderful children with which God blessed our home. She happily participated in the activities of these two girls and one boy. She was a Girl Scout leader, a “Cookie Mother”, and a driver of “Mom’s Taxi” for scout meetings, various music lessons, and horseback riding lessons. She was the “help mate” that God provided to a busy husband – painting the house, mowing the lawn, typing and grading exams, typing four editions of a college text-workbook, typing a Ph.D. dissertation.

When the family budget needed some help with three children going to private colleges, she returned to the work place and worked for Dayton-Hudson Department stores in Portage, Michigan, for G. Fox in Hartford, CT, for Centerville Dental Associates on Cape Cod, MA, for Christmas Loft in North Conway, NH, and Easter Seals in Manchester, NH. She and her husband loved to travel, especially to the island of Kauai in the Hawaiian Islands and to Western Canada. She enjoyed visiting and keeping in contact with family and friends.

The most important part of her life was serving her Lord Jesus Christ – Serving in many positions in churches where she lived – at First Baptist Church in Portage, MI, at Faith Bible Church in Glen, NH, at Hope Baptist Church in Dennis, MA, and at Emmanuel Baptist Church in Hooksett, NH. She spent more than 50 years in church nurseries. At the time of her death, she was a member of Cornerstone Baptist Church of Goffstown, NH.

She was predeceased in death by her beloved husband of 60 years, Alan Robert Curtis, her parents Merle and Elva, her sister, Dorothy (Gilks) Luitjens of Illinois.  Also she leaves a son, Donald Curtis, MD and wife Martha of Courtney, British Columbia, Canada, a daughter Deborah (Curtis) Young and husband Scott of York, Maine, and a daughter Linda (Curtis) Gordon and husband Chris of Center Moriches, NY. Also she leaves eleven grandchildren; Joshua, Brian, Benjamin, Jacob, Lucian, and Lollie Young of York, ME, Jessica, Jeffrey, Rebecca, and Matthew Curtis of British Columbia, Canada, and Shelby Leigh Gordon of Center Moriches, NY. She leaves three nephews; Sean, Shannon and Shane and their families; she also leaves a great-grandson, Brayden Wyatt Young.

A funeral service will be held on Monday, May 15^th at 10:30 am in Lambert Funeral Home & Crematory, 1799 Elm St, corner of North St, Manchester.

Burial will be in Oak Ridge Cemetery in Dennis, Cape Cod, MA at a later date.

Donations in her memory may be made to Hope Baptist Church, Dennis, MA, or Cornerstone Baptist Church, Goffstown, NH.

https://Lambert-Funeral-Home-and-Crematory.livecontrol.tv/aceba1fb