Page 4 - 2000 Vernonia Friendship Jamboree
Grand Marshalls for 2000 parade: Santa Claus and the Halloween witch
Bob and Betty Curl, who
moved to Vernonia two years
before the first Friendship Jam
boree, will be honored as co-
Grand Marshalls at its 44th
showcase.
The Curls have had long,
happy and successful lives in
our community. Born and
raised in Paris, Illinois, they
pulled up stakes with the en
couragement of Vernonia rela
tive Peter Brunsman, and mov
ed to Vernonia at age 19 to
work and raise a family.
Their first home was a two
bedroom house and within the
first six years, while Bob
worked for Brunsman Hard
ware, their family of two be
came a family of six. Cramped
quarters caused them to relo
cate, building a larger home on
the banks of Vernonia’s Rock
Creek, overlooking the city’s
natural swimming pool.
Though times were often
hard, the Curls succeeded in
raising nine children, all of
whom graduated from Verno
nia High School. One daughter,
Debbie Johnston, now serves
on the school district’s board of
directors.
Over the years, the Curls
became best known, locally, for
the roles they played in the
community; Bob, as Santa
Claus to children in Vernonia
and Mist Schools for 42 years,
and Betty as the Wicked Witch
at Halloween - complete with
costume, steaming cauldron,
eerie, scary sound effects and
a generous supply of tasty
treats - over a period of ten
years.
In the meantime, they have
states.
In 1960, he sold his van and
bought a grocery store on
Curl’s Transportation, contract
ing with School District 47J to
operate their fleet of buses.
Bob and Betty Curl on the deck of their home overlooking the Rock Creek swimming pool.
had years of hard work and
many rewarding adventures.
When Bob left Brunsman he
developed an entrepreneurial
spirit - looking for opportunities
to build a successful career, he
worked as a logger, as a live
stock trucker, as a bus driver,
and as a Mayflower Van inde
pendent driver covering the 48
Bridge Street (where Oregon
Realty now is located). In 1963,
he sold the store to Dean’s
Market, which moved to where
Sentry Market now is. He
worked at the market as assis
tant manager for another year,
then bought another Mayflower
van and returned to interstate
hauling. In 1977 he founded
This venture he sold to his son
Joe, who still holds that con
tract.
In 1985, Bob and Betty
formed a new corporation,
Curl’s Hi-Tech Service Cor
poration, which is headquar
tered in Hillsboro. The family
corporation includes them-
selves and four sons as direc
tors and is an agency for Unit
ed Van Lines.
The corporation provides
transport services to high-tech
companies, hauling equipment
for trade shows nation-wide,
and has competently handled
jobs that required as many as
72 trailer loads for one show.
Curl’s Hi-Tech also provides
warehousing for materials that
must be stored between shows.
The corporation has five vans
and contracts with 15 inde
pendent truckers. A second of
fice, in So. San Francisco, is
also an agency for United Van
Lines.
Betty spent a lot of busy
years as a homemaker, but af
ter the children were all grown
and gone, she went to school
to become a travel agent. “The
kids kept telling Dad that ‘Mom
will go crazy if she doesn’t
have something to do,’ and I
wanted to see if I could still talk
to people,” she says with a
laugh. Just as she was ready
for her first interview with a
prospective employer, she and
Bob decided to start the new
corporation. So she chucked
the travel industry and helped
in the establishment of Curl’s
Hi-Tech.
Sadly, Santa Claus and the
wicked witch have retired - but
they will be fondly remembered
for many more years by most
of the children and parents in
Vernonia.
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The photo and caption above appeared on the front page of the Dec. 17,1997, issue of The INDE
PENDENT, capturing Bob Curl's last celebration of the spirit of Christmas as community Santa Claus.
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