Allen E Curtis has Passed.

[kyoteblue]

Shines the Name Shines the Fame of Allen E. Curtis, Gamer Extraordinaire, Grumpy Old Bastard  and Friend.

Go on the the Green Fields Beyond, Allen. I’ll cover you and catch up when I can.

Sorry guys my eyes are leaking.

Jonathan Keepers aka kyoteblue

[Henry Hyde]

I received the news from his wife via his Facebook account last week. I was stunned. It seems that his passing was sudden and, as far as anyone could tell, painless, though this is scant consolation to Victoria and his kids Ariel and Zeke.

An amazingly gifted man who will be deeply missed.

We’ll be running an obituary in MWBG 379. If anyone here, including you, Jonathan, would like to contribute a few words to what will be a collaborative piece, then by all means get in touch over the next week or so.

Henry

Editor, Battlegames
http://battlegames.co.uk
Battlegames on Patreon
https://www.patreon.com/battlegames
Author, The Wargaming Compendium
http://amzn.to/leWoNO

[kyoteblue]

Thank you Henry.

[Truscott Trotter]

RIP Allen you will be missed – he was one of those posters on various sites that you could reley on

[Howard Whitehouse]

I never met Allen, but back in the nineties he sent me a pile of photocopies of stuff about the North West Frontier in the Victorian era completely out of the blue. He’d forgotten more about ancient warfare than most people ever learn. Brilliant, mercurial, cranky as hell. He liked my novels for kids, and told me he read them to his dying wife, Nancy.

I do all my own stunts.

[Natholeon]

My recent question regarding how to paint a Roman army was asked in the hope that Allen might contribute to the discussion. Despite his sometimes gruff exterior he was very helpful and generous. A very sad day in the wargaming universe.

[kyoteblue]

Thanks Guys, I’m drinking a Failed Moral Check in Allen’s honor.

[Ivan Sorensen]

Gutted 🙁

[Sparker]

RIP AE Curtis, Captain, US Army, Ret’d.

A gentleman, Tanker, scholar and wargamer. Though he will be sorely missed, not a bad epitaph to look back on from the celestial final laager!

Thank you for your Service, Sir, for sharing your knowledge, and for the virtual companionship of our strange little hobby, which you have added to so much. We are all genuinely the poorer for your passing!

When I can do so in suitable style and with appropriate attention to detail, I will organise and blog a suitable wargame in commemoration – something Cold War armor heavy, I’m thinking, to put his arcane knowledge to good use…Perhaps someone else can do the same, in Ancients say, which I understand was his main interest…

http://sparkerswargames.blogspot.com.au/
'Blessed are the peacekeepers, for they shall need to be well 'ard'
Matthew 5:9

[Luddite]

I only met Allen once but greatly enjoyed his knowledge and forthrightness on the forums.

He will be missed.

[Barks]

I’m sorry to hear that; he stood tall amongst us.

My blog: Wargaming with Barks

[Earther]

Taken too soon. Waaay too soon.

He was a true scholar and a gentleman.

 

Deeply saddened.

[Paul]

Sad to hear. Another warrior takes his place in Valhalla 🙁

Those are brave men knocking at our door. Let's go kill them!

[Fernando Darlington]

I’m deeply sorry to hear this news. He has a very knowledgeable and helpful comrade.   I will miss him.

 

Rest in peace, Allen.

[Robert Cordery]

I have written a blog entry about Allen’s death on my blog.

http://wargamingmiscellany.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/news-that-i-did-not-want-to-hear.html

[Coabeous]

I would have liked to have met Mr. Curtis, he seemed like one of those people that are natural leaders and worthy of respect.

I send my condolinces to his family, and hope his soul finds peace.

Coab Evans

[Frog]

Three stories that I hope will show a bit of what was underneath Allen’s sometimes-gruff online exterior (Henry, if you think these worthy for inclusion in your magazine feel free; please contact me if you want my name, city, etc.):

 

Late ’06/Early ’07: Having only recently purchased my first computer and joined the online world, I was beginning to think that the internet was full of nothing but self-centered jerks. I posted something pertaining to the state of Maine on a forum and to my surprise I got a message from someone I’d never met and with whom I’d never even had any interaction. It was Allen. Turns out he’d been born and raised in Maine, and he was as friendly as the day is long. We knew a lot of the same places and a few of the same people in Maine; we shared a love for the state’s beauty and it’s lobsters. We had some other things in common as well, including a concern for the less-fortunate, and a particular concern for the less-fortunate of the furry, four-legged variety. Allen’s outgoing friendliness made me realize that there are some total strangers on the internet who are actually very good people.

 

August ’09: What became known as the Station Fire was burning way too close to where I live near Los Angeles, with burning embers falling around and an evacuation order. Realizing there was zero chance of getting all of my pets out, I resolved to stay, using garden hoses to turn my home into a 1:1 scale replica of a wet sponge. Stupid, I know, but I was too much of a coward to face the prospect of trying to live with myself if I left some of my pets to burn. Allen was one of the extremely small number of people who commended my decision; he checked up on me constantly, by phone and email, for the next few days to make sure my “furry children” (they’re all rescues) and I were o.k., offering his prayers and every support he had to give for our safety. I am at a loss for words to describe how much this meant to me at the time.

 

June ’11: Allen and I both attended a small, local convention during an intense early summer heat wave. Shortly after he left, I discovered an eight-week old kitten trapped in a locked outdoor storage closet. Telling him about it the next day, Allen offered to pay the vet bills and if necessary make the 240-mile round trip to my house to pick up the kitten and give it a home if I couldn’t keep her, this during a period when Allen was undergoing emotional and extreme financial hardship of his own. (I kept the kitten and named her Fortuna, a name Allen agreed was quite appropriate. She is healthy to this day; Allen regularly checked to see how his “furry god-daughter” was doing.)

 

Allen was a Good Man. As many will attest he was a tremendous asset to our hobby. He had the personal strength of character to stand by and act upon his convictions to make the world a better place. We are poorer for his absence.

Bunch of monkeys on your ceiling, sir!

[Ivan Sorensen]

Frog – thanks for sharing those stories. A remarkable human.

[Henry Hyde]

Frog – PM sent to you just now.

Henry

Editor, Battlegames
http://battlegames.co.uk
Battlegames on Patreon
https://www.patreon.com/battlegames
Author, The Wargaming Compendium
http://amzn.to/leWoNO

[GeoffQRF]

Sad, sad news. Although we never met, Allen and I had many chats on and offline.

QRF Models Limited
www.quickreactionforce.co.uk

[Frog]

Henry Hyde wrote:

Frog – PM sent to you just now. Henry

 

Email reply sent to you, good Sir!

Bunch of monkeys on your ceiling, sir!

[venusboys3]

I’m sad to see him go but glad for the time he was around.

From my scant dealings with him an all-around solid guy.

[James Ewins]

Never corresponded directly but always enjoyed his postings, an immensely knowledgeable man who could be grumpy with some style.  We’re poorer without him.

JDE

/
Chief Sarcaster at http://www.exmouthwargames.org.uk/
Assistant Dogsbody at http://legionaryshow.co.uk/
/

[Rod Robertson]

I only knew Mr. Curtis through the keyhole of wargaming forums. He was a wealth of knowledge and a generous sharer of wisdom. I will miss his wit, his no-nonsense frankness and most of all his encyclopedic knowledge of wargaming and History. The world seems diminished by his passing but heaven will be all the richer. God’s speed, A.E. Curtis.

[Author]

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