CURTIS, Ina Julia

Kingman Daily Miner, Kingman, Arizona June 12, 2002 INA JULIA (IMUS) CURTIS (Daughter of Hiram Burl Imus & Chloe Dell Bland) "INA J. CURTIS" Services will be held for Ina Julia Curtis at 11 a.m. June 15 at First Presbyterian Church, 585 N. Main St., Bishop, Calif., followed by graveside services at East Line Street Cemetery. Ina Julia Imus was born in Hackberry, Ariz., on July 11, 1909. The daughter of Hiram Burl Imus and Cloe (Bland) Imus, she was the oldest of six children. The children spent their childhood years on the Willows Ranch east of Kingman amidst a large family of aunts, uncles and cousins. Ina came to Owens Valley in 1927 with her parents and brothers and sisters. The family settled on a DWP lease at the north end of Big Pine. The Imus family stayed in the valley for a few years and when they moved away, Ina and her sister June each had married and remained in the valley. Ina married Hugh Henderson and raised three children in Bishop. Widowed shortly after her third child was born, Ina worked as a waitress in local restaurants to support her family, an occupation she continued for the next 20 years. Ina married Merrill Curtis in 1939, and the family moved to a home on Brockman Lane in 1940. The family kept this DWP lease until 1976. Merrill and Ina lived in Independence for the eight years he served as Inyo County sheriff. In her last decade, Ina lived in Bishop with her son, Elvie Henderson, and family. Ina was preceded in death by her father, her mother, her oldest brother, Marvel Imus, her husbands, her stepson, Merrill C. Curtis, and daughter-in-law Joanne Curtis. She is survived by daughter Cleo (Henderson) and husband, Gene Yost, of Wenatchee, Wash., daughter May Lou (Henderson) and husband, Bill Cox, of Merdian, Idaho, and son Elvie and wife, Kathy, of Bishop; 15 grandchildren; 26 great-grandchilden; and three-great-great-grandchildren. She is survived by two sisters, June Rossie and Sarah (Hix) Rossi, brother-in-law Maynard Rossi; two brothers, Ted Imus and Frank Imus and his wife, Marianne; and many nieces and nephews.