Iris Imagean Curtis was one of five children born to Ora H and Marie Wilma (Wilson) Curtis of Bethel in Posey County, Indiana on July 10, 1926. Her father was a farmer, and her family was living in Marrs Township, east of the Ohio River, also in Posey County, Indiana when the 1940 Census was taken. The family had been in the same residence, per a census question, since at least 1935. Her siblings were Roy L., b.1915, Virginia, b.1917, Vera May, b.1924, Ora (named after his father), b.1929, Billie, b.1933, and Bert, b.1936. I don't know anything of Iris's life from 1940 until she met my father, Robert L. Webb, who was a best friend for many years because she was divorced (had been married to an abusive man named Watkins) and had no desire to remarry. She worked for many years as a Public Assistance Worker for the Department of Social Services, Santa Clara County, at the main office located in San Jose, California. My father was a Fireman at the San Jose Airport. They were friends from at least 1970 until they finally decided to marry when they both retired in the 1980's. They became husband and wife on Oct 21, 1984 and moved to Aptos, in Santa Cruz County, CA., their dream home, where they could take walks on the beach every morning. They took many trips to different places they had dreamed of all those years they'd worked so hard, including a trip to the Holy Lands. Unfortunately, they were just @7miles from the epicenter from the 1987 Loma Prieta quake and, within a few months of the earthquake, decided to move because they were afraid of another quake. They sold their home in Aptos and bought a new home in El Dorado Hills, along the Sierra Nevada foothills, about one hour west of Lake Tahoe in El Dorado County, California. My father always regretted leaving Aptos and the beach where he and Iris had walked so often. But Iris developed Alzheimer's disease which progressed all too quickly, causing my father to have a series of heart attacks requiring hospitalization due to the terrible stress of trying to care for her & watching her being lost to him by this terrible disease. My sister and I came from Oregon to care for his wife while he was in the hospital and upon his discharge, to watch over Iris and our father. Within a day of his discharge he had another heart attack and ended up back in the hospital. As much as he hated to admit it, Iris needed to be placed in a nursing facility due to our dad's fragile health, which continued to decline after he came home & realized she was now lost to him, due to the Alzheimer's. It just broke his heart. My sister and Iris's brother, Bert, found the best nursing home in the entire county for her (at Dad's request), as it was for the best for everyone involved. He insisted upon going to see her at least once a week, if not more often, where he would sit by her and talk to her about the past and all of the places they had gone together when they were both healthy. He had prepaid for their burial expenses so there would be no financial hardships to any of his children and continued to visit her every week until she passed away on May 21st, 2001. Iris is buried at the Los Gatos Cemetery on the Los Gatos-Almaden Rd., San Jose, Santa Clara County, CA. There is a burial plot next to her's for Robert L. Webb, following his demise, where he will again be with her when he passes from this Earth, although it will just be his body. I know she is in Heaven, and will be at Heaven's Gate when he crosses over, himself. I will miss them both dearly.
{Iris had twin nieces she adored, never having children of her own. She loved them as much as if they'd been her own daughters and, until she became ill, used to talk of them fondly, quite frequently.}
My father passed from this life on July 9th, 2015 and was buried next to his beloved Iris. I know they are together in Paradise, taking their walks on the beach once more.