Donald Curry

Brian Norden · **Posted:** Tue Jun 13, 2023 10:37 pm

The other day I received a shared, forwarded email noting the passing of Donald Curry a long-time member and employee of Seashore Trolley Museum.

Seashore Trolley Museum has posted a page on its website dedicated to Donald Curry. This is a portion of the text:

Quote:

Donald remained a Seashore volunteer until the unfortunate day he suffered an acute stroke, on June 1, 2023. Just a few hours prior, Donald was at Seashore, continuing to work on the restoration of Bay State Street Railway 4175, as well as being honored with a brand new sign for the Donald G. Curry Town House Shop. Donald had just turned 87 years of age on May 30, 2023. On June 9, 2023, Donald passed away in hospice care surrounded by family and close loved ones.

Link to the entire page: https://trolleymuseum.org/2023/06/12/in-memory-of-donald-g-curry/

EJ Berry · **Posted:** Wed Jun 14, 2023 12:26 am

Donald will be missed.

He was one of the people who developed the art of trolley restoration. We all owe him for first learning the job, and secons, telling the rest of us.

One correction to Seashore's article. Cleveland 1227 (later Shaker Heights 27) got away while on a flatcar and had a twisted frame. Donald's shop repaired that, too.

Phil Mulligan

David Johnston · **Posted:** Thu Jun 15, 2023 2:55 am

Donald was an excellent researcher and car builder. I worked with him on and off for just over 50 years. He was a high school teacher and brought that skill with him to the museum shop. The Seashore shop was the place to go to learn how to restore street railway equipment. Steel cars or wooden cars, Donald took all of them on. Being a school teacher, he was able to dedicate the entire summer to the work at Seashore. After he retired from teaching, running the shop became his full time vocation. He was a good friend and I will miss him.

JeffH · **Joined:** Fri Mar 14, 2014 11:44 pm **Posts:** 239

One of the challenges in the railway preservation field is passing down knowledge from generation to generation. "Someone should write a book!" Well, Donald did! He was instrumental in getting so much information down on paper, and getting it distributed through ARM. That was his schoolteacher skill set at work. Donald epitomized the spirit of inter-museum cooperation and knowledge sharing. He will be missed. I hope the HRA board considers naming an award or program in his memory.