CURRY, Pat Byran, Ph.D.

Arizona Daily Sun, Flagstaff, AZ Thursday, September 16, 2010 Pat Bryan Curry, Ph.D., 84, died Sunday, Aug. 29, 2010, after a long illness. As a professor of music and administrator at NAU, he was conductor of the Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra, director of the NAU Summer Music Camp and founder and director of the Flagstaff Summer Festival of the Arts. Among his many lifetime honors, he was named the 1986 Arizona Daily Sun Citizen of the Year. Pat Bryan Curry was born June 2, 1926, in Texas, to Grover Cleveland Curry and Eva May Pierce Curry, one of 12 siblings. He grew up in Duncan. After his father died in a mining accident, his mother ran Ruby's Cafe and raised the remaining eight children. Dr. Curry graduated from Duncan High School in 1944, served in the U.S. Navy during World War II and earned his B.A. in music education in 1950 from Arizona State College in Tempe (now Arizona State University). He earned his M.A. at the University of Southern California, and in the late 1960s, he received his Ph.D. from Brigham Young University. Dr. Curry taught band, orchestra and chorus at several high schools throughout Arizona (Snowflake Union, Sunnyslope, Carl Hayden, and Catalina); he helped develop the first All-State Band in Flagstaff in 1953, which later became the All-State Orchestra, Band and Chorus Festival; he worked to solidify and grow the Arizona Band and Orchestra Directors Association and the Arizona Music Educator's Association. Dr. Curry began his tenure in 1960 at Northern Arizona University (then Arizona State College in Flagstaff) and remained until his retirement in 1986. He began at NAU as director of the University Orchestra, taught music education, was a violin instructor. Upon the death of Eldon Ardrey, Dr. Curry assumed the duties of acting dean of the College of Creative Arts and chairman of the music department at NAU. He took an active role in the design and construction of their new facilities -- the CAC building and the Ardrey Auditorium. As conductor, Dr. Curry did much to enlarge the Flagstaff Symphony from a chamber orchestra to a full-fledged symphony orchestra, expanding the number of concerts and bringing in more local performers and well-known guest artists. He also expanded the NAU Summer Music Camp from a one-week marching band camp to junior high and senior high camps of two weeks each with a full music curriculum, including several types of bands (marching, jazz, concert), two full-size orchestras, chorus, opera, and extras such as music theory, history and small ensembles. A part of his vision was the coordination of the Music Camp with the Summer Festival, allowing campers to attend professional-level performances almost daily and to be taught by many top-level instructors, some of whom were also performing in the Festival Symphony Orchestra. In 2008, the NAU Summer Music Camp was renamed "The Curry Summer Music Camp at NAU" in his honor. Dr. Curry was selected as the Young Teacher of the Year by the Arizona Education Association. He was also named Music Educator of the Year by the Arizona Music Educators Association and the 1986 Citizen of the Year of Flagstaff by the Arizona Daily Sun. The Curry family wishes to thank the many extraordinary musicians, administrators, teachers and financial contributors to the arts for the support Dr. Curry received in his work, throughout his life. All these helped him to enrich the musical life of northern Arizona. Visit www.drpatcurry.com to remember him with his family. Dr. Curry is survived by his loving and supporting wife, Lorraine G. Curry; two children, Bryan E. Curry (Roberta) and Barbara Curry-Kaufman (Lance); siblings Fay Wilkins and Bernard (Nard) Curry; and many other relatives in Arizona, Texas and New Mexico. The family of Pat B. Curry will have a memorial service in Ardrey Memorial Auditorium on the Northern Arizona University campus on Sunday, Oct. 31, at 10 a.m. A short musical presentation will be followed by a reception for family and friends. In lieu of flowers and gifts, the family asks that donations be made to the "Pat B Curry Music Scholarship Fund" at NAU. To donate, see the nau.edu/music website for more information. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Arizona Daily Sun, Flagstaff, AZ Saturday, September 18, 2010 The family of Pat B. Curry will have a memorial service in Ardrey Memorial Auditorium on the Northern Arizona University campus on Sunday, Oct. 31, at 10 a.m. A short musical presentation will be followed by a reception for family and friends.