Obituary of Nora Lee Curtis

Nora Curtis

November 11, 1944- August 14, 2022

Nora (Trice) Curtis, 77, of Kalamazoo, passed away Sunday, August 14th, 2022 with her family by her side. Nora was born to John and Bessie (Ross) Trice on November 11, 1944, in Tiptonville, Tennessee. The family moved to Kalamazoo, Michigan in the early 1950s.

She graduated from Kalamazoo Central High School and later worked as an accountant for    Eaton Corp. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Education from Western Michigan University and later earned a master’s degree focusing on math and science. Her passion for education led her to become a teacher at Kalamazoo, Parchment, and Benton Harbor public schools. After retirement, she continued to inspire youth as a tutor through her non-profit organization, Great Minds of Tomorrow.

Nora loved to travel and create various types of arts and crafts projects. She was also the family historian who visited Tennessee to interview family members in her research of the Trice and Ross families.   

Nora is preceded in death by her parents, John and Bessie Trice, her brother, W.D. Trice (all of Kalamazoo, MI), and sister Ionia Rawlings (Memphis, TN). She is survived by her husband, George Curtis, her siblings, Daisy (Bill) Burroughs, Eddie Trice, Pearline Williams, Elvira Bernard, and Johnnie Trice, Jr. (all of Kalamazoo), and her sons, James Morgan, Juvar Curtis, and Minkah Curtis (all of Kalamazoo, MI); her stepchildren, Dometa Hill (Grand Rapids, MI) and George Curtis 4th (Augusta, GA); grandchildren, LaTonya Morgan, Sheena Morgan, Jamie Morgan, Anthony Morgan Jr., Beigh Morgan (all of Kalamazoo), and Shanta Nevilles (Ionia, MI), Juvar Curtis Jr. (Southfield, MI), and Allysa Mitchell (Kalamazoo, MI), and a host of great-grandchildren, and nieces and nephews. 

A celebration of life will be held Monday, August 22, at The Church of Christ, 2705 Virginia Avenue, Kalamazoo, MI 49004. A viewing will be held at the church at 9 a.m., and the service will follow at 10:30 a.m. The family requests that guests please wear masks. Whitley Funeral Home will assist the family with the arrangements.