Sam Curry ‘ 62

Why did you join Phi Kappa Sigma?
Penn State and Phi Kappa Sigma have been a family tradition with the Currys for many years. I visited PSU with my parents when I was young and was encouraged by my dad, Sam Sr. ’29 to take a good look at Psi Chapter. His brother Edgar, who died while in school, was also a Skull. My brother Dave ’64 completed the loop. This family influence undoubtedly forced me to give an extra look at the Skulls. It turned out to be a good decision.

Sam Curry ‘ 62 Sailing Through a Long, Full Life

This Q&A interview is part of an ongoing series designed to help us get to know our brothers better. If you know a brother you think would make a good profile candidate, please send his name and graduation year, along with your name and grad year, to our alumni relations service: [email protected] Please be sure to mention that it’s for Phi Kappa Sigma, PSU.

Tell us about your favorite memory of the fraternity.
The parties come to mind first, but looking back after many years, it is the friendships that developed during those years that have kept strong. The ability to be away from someone for many years and to run into them and start out like time stood still means a lot. We had great times at the Toga Parties, Spring Week, the trips out to Whipple Dam and Stone Valley. I very clearly recall coming back from Christmas vacation in 1959 and finding a traffic light in the foyer hanging from the second floor hall. Having attended the New Year’s Eve Party after which an accident occurred and the light just didn’t deserve to stay in Wynnewood, gave special meaning to the acquisition. Who can forget the big chase of the State College police in hot pursuit of Morris, Ruth the cook’s husband, around the Weis Market parking lot? Or the sunbathing on Hillel’s roof. Or snow battles with Kappa Sig and Triangle. But the best thing about the fraternity is having a place to return to and find old buddies hanging around.

What kind of influence has the fraternity had on your life since graduation?
It has been 40 years since graduation so there is a long time to look back. I think the thing that stands out the most is the maturing process which took place in the years at Penn State and the learning how to deal with people. It has given me someplace to go back and relive the “good old days” and a chance to keep in contact with old friends. It taught me that if I was to succeed, I had better not screw around like I did in college. Concentration and completion of a task is important. I didn’t do nearly as well as I should have in school.

With whom do you still stay in contact? Who would you most like to find?
I have had close contact with several brothers. Jim Craft ’63 is probably the most prominent one as we vacationed with his family at the North Carolina beach for years. Bob Burns ’63, who passed away a couple of years ago, was my faithful compatriot at homecoming every year and we spent many good times with Bob and Anne at the beach and elsewhere. Does anyone yet know who is Burns and who is Curry? Or Curns and Burry? I have stayed in touch with Jim Swab ‘ 61 and gotten out to see him in California in recent years and Bill Schaal ’59 and a few others. One of the things that I enjoyed in the early years of returning to homecoming was the ability to go to the house and see everyone after the game. With the size of the school, the juggling of the hours, and the tremendous traffic problems, that has all but been lost. I would like to get the members of our pledge class together sometime to see what has happened to them. Some have sadly passed on, but most have just faded into the background.

One of the traditions, which has now been broken, was that a Sam Curry was at every homecoming at Phi Kap since 1925 through 1999. My dad had an unblemished record of attending homecoming every year from the time he entered PSU until the year he died, and I picked up in the mid ’60s and was there through 1999. Bob Burns and I were the Pennsylvania and New Jersey holders of the TAILG8 license plates and would go in tandem into the stadium getting astonished looks. When Bob passed away, the tradition died. We also didn’t have room reservations, had moved to North Carolina, PSU didn’t have much of a team, and the house had closed its doors.

Tell us about your family: Have you married? Do you have children?
After graduation, I attended Navy OCS and was stationed in Norfolk on the USS Vermilion (AKA 107) for 18 months. I met my wife while in Norfolk on that tour. I was transferred to San Francisco for shore duty and we were married that same year. We started our family after leaving the Navy and were with US Steel in the Philadelphia area. Our two sons, Todd and Mason have both made us very proud and are living in other parts of the country.

Todd went to Miami of Ohio and became engaged to Kathleen and was married while he was in the Navy as a Supply Officer on a ship in Norfolk. (Sound familiar?) He got his MBA at Indiana Wesleyan while still in the Navy. They have a beautiful 6-year-old daughter, Colleen, and reside in Carmel, Ind. Todd is with Allstate Insurance.

Mason graduated from Virginia Tech as a mechanical engineer and worked in Pittsburgh for eight years. He returned to academia in 2001 and is earning his masters in product design at Stanford. He is still single and with the course load has not yet found time to start a family. He is hoping the job market improves by the time he receives his degree in spring 2004. Any one have an opening for a very talented and artistic engineer?

What other activities or organizations were you involved with during your college days?
During college, I was spending most of my time trying to find my curriculum. I started in engineering but soon found that was not the proper course and finally ended up in business with a transportation major. With the additional course load due to switching, I had to spend more than usual time in studies. Oh yes, I had time to attend all the fraternity activities and parties, and intra-mural activities. Also was involved in the scouting fraternity for a while. But the extracurricular activities centered primarily around the fraternity and staying in school.

After graduation, I became active in the Phi Kap Alumni Corporation and served as president and vice president for quite a few years. Bob Burns and I were a tradition, for maybe too long.

What is your nickname, if applicable, and how did you get it?
During our time in school – late ’50s, early ’60s, students still dressed up in sport coats and suits and wore ironed shirts. I saw an opportunity to make money at the house and bought at auction from Nick Molloy ’59, the “rights” to the fraternity laundry concession. With that business came the nickname Abe. It stuck. I had the laundry business for three years and made quite a good profit and then transferred it to my brother Dave who had pledged by that time and he had it several more years. Abe was quite a popular guy since the owner of the laundry also owned Home Delivery Pizza and part of my commission was all the pizza and sandwiches I could eat. At the Skellar on Friday there was always room at a booth for me — and my pizza.

Did you live in the house? If so, who were your roommates? Tell us about a memorable time with them.
I lived in the house for the full time (four years) and enjoyed most of it. It was not a good influence on my studies at all times, however. I roomed with Jim Swab ’61, John Haberlen ’62, and Jim Craft ’63 and during my pledge year, my pledge master, Jim Alexy ’60. Jim was a good roommate and valued my opinion in selection of ties and coats. What I didn’t realize at first was that Jim was colorblind. After well into the pledging semester, and my realizing the situation, if Jim had been particularly tough on me, his coat and tie at the party did not match too well. As for the study conditions in the house, there were times, when I would see eyes peering in the window of the second floor room and it was gymnast Lee Cunningham ’60 swinging on a rope from the third floor. And cherry bombs being dropped in the old bomb shell ashtray while studying – Al Lammey ’61 and Bo Terry. I did rent a room down the street for one critical semester to have a place to go study in peace and quiet.

What do you do for a living?
After five years in the Navy, I started with US Steel in Pittsburgh in their Transportation (now Logistics) department. I spent 31 years with USS with the last three years being director of UEC Logistics Services – a third party logistics provider. During that time we spent 11 years in the Philadelphia area, four years in Cleveland and 16 in Pittsburgh. I retired with 31 years of service in 1998, and left Pittsburgh for North Carolina coastal country. I was interested in sailing and we built a home and bought a boat and love the peaceful and temperate environs of New Bern, N.C. Recently, I resumed working part time with SOS Global Express, a freight forwarder working in the broadcast industry and located here in New Bern.

What affiliations do you currently have and/or public service do you participate in?
With our retirement and change of venue, we started a new life and lifestyle. Much of it is centered around boating. I became active in the Cape Lookout Sail and Power Squadron and served as treasurer for two years. I am also active in the Fairfield Harbour Yacht Club and have been cruising chairman, fleet captain and this year am vice commodore and looking forward to being commodore next year. We have also been involved in activities with our church and community and the Newcomers group during the past few years.

What hobbies do you enjoy?
My avid interest is sailing. I guess from the days in the Navy, I have always loved the water. I had a little 13′ sloop day sailor for 25 years and did local sailing with it. We had been affiliated with the Power Squadron in Cleveland and took courses then and also attended Annapolis sailing school for a week in the ’80s. I even gave lessons to Jim “Co” Craft at Nags Head but with his “co”ordination, was quite unsuccessful. After moving to North Carolina, we bought a 30′ sloop and have taken additional courses and really gotten involved and are enjoying sailing on up to three-week cruises with our yacht club. I have also crewed twice on a 46′ Morris from the Chesapeake to Ft. Lauderdale and have many interesting experiences and tales to tell.

I thought I would be playing a lot of golf down here, especially with two golf courses in the community, but sailing has taken priority and golf is second fiddle.

What are your goals for the next few years?
Our goals for the next few years are to survive and stay healthy. We have both been blessed with good health over the years and the active lifestyle in this area and the warmer climate gives us the opportunity to pursue that goal. Unfortunately with the state of the economy, our retirement nest egg is not as large as we had hoped and we are taking action to improve that. I took on part-time work as mentioned and we have become distributors for several products to supplement our incomes — Portabotes and Coastal Cruising Guides at this point. This town is a great area for retirement and with the older population, there is great opportunity to volunteer through church or community services and donate some of the talents we have gained over the years. I expect we will get more involved in these activities as time progresses. While we may not be getting back to Penn State as often, I would hope that anyone in the area of New Bern would give us a call and we would love to show you around and take you for a sail or round of golf.