Youth Program
1882 - 1977
Anna Louise Curtis was born August 15, 1882, in Willoughby, Lake County, Ohio. She was the daughter of Grove D. and Lillian Tryon Curtis. After the family moved to New York City, Anna attended the Friends Seminary, graduating in 1900. She graduated from Swarthmore College in 1904 and was assistant dean there from 1909 to 1913.
Anna Curtis joined the Swarthmore Meeting in 1910 and in 1914 transferred her membership to the Fifteenth Street Meeting. She was secretary to the New York Monthly Meeting from 1914 to 1923, at the same time serving both the quarterly and yearly meetings as well. In 1923, she left to work with the American Friends Service Committee in Germany for two years, helping with child feeding.
Anna Curtis was a devoted Friend and very active in the life of the meeting. She made personal visits to the sick and homebound and then reported back to Ministry and Oversight on the results of her visits. She had a special liking for young people. She was superintendent of the First-day school for more than twenty years. She enjoyed telling stories, both biblical and biographical, and was perhaps best known as a storyteller in Quaker dress at the yearly meeting.
She also wrote many stories and articles, mainly for young people. Several of these were published by the Island Press Cooperative, of which Anna was part owner. Two of her best known books are Stories of the Underground Railroad, published in 1941, and Ghosts of the Mohawk and Other Stories, published in 1953.
Anna Curtis was always sensitive to the needs of others. She was active in the refugee program sponsored by the meeting and taught English to many refugees. She liked to invite groups of people to her home for teas. She often put others' needs above her own; for example, when she received a gift of money to ease her situation, she thanked the donor for giving her the joy of contributing to the American Friends Service Committee.
In 1965 Anna Curtis received the Medallion of Honor, the highest award of the Women's National Institute, given to her as an outstanding Quaker educator and author.
In December 1965, Anna Curtis moved to the McCutchen and shortly thereafter to the Nursing Home. She died December 24, 1977. A memorial meeting was held at the McCutchen on December 30, 1977, and at Fifteenth Street Meeting on June 4, 1978.
-- from the memorial minute of Fifteenth Street Meeting, July 9, 1978
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