In Memoriam: Fair Haven Native, RFH ’45 Grad, George Venable Curchin, 96

Fair Haven native and Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School (RFH) 1945 graduate, George Venable Curchin, more recently of Tinton Falls, died on July 8 after a short illness. It was just a week before his 97th birthday.

George was born on July 15, 1927 to Anna (Venable) and George Washington Curchin, of Fair Haven. A 1945 RFH graduate, he proudly said he never attended the graduation because he had left to join the U.S. Navy.

Following a short stint in the Navy, George attended University of Pennsylvania, graduating in 1950. George was a lifelong proud alum. He wore a sweater with a huge maroon P emblazoned on the front until it disintegrated, Penn neckties, Penn polo shirts and Penn button downs. He drank from Penn coffee mugs, used Penn key chains, and bet his grandchildren (from rival schools) on Penn football games. He served for several years as his class reunion gift chair.

While building his CPA firm in Monmouth County, George built the business from a firm of one employee in shared office space in Long Branch to the large prestigious Red Bank firm known today as the Curchin Group. Along the way George served as vice president, president, and past president of the New Jersey State Society of CPA’s.

George married Mary Elizabeth Montgomery (Betty), who he met at the Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair, in 1951. Together they raised four children in Little Silver. He served on the boards of many charitable county organizations. One of his longest and favorites was the Boy Scouts. George was an Eagle Scout and a Scoutmaster for years. Some of his best stories are about epic boy scout camping trips with son, John, in the pouring rain …

George’s interests and hobbies were varied. He loved listening to Yankees games and operas. He played poker with friends, kickball with his own and neighborhood kids, and ping pong with anyone who would. He read books about Horatio Hornblower and his hero, Winston Churchill. He collected Currier and Ives prints and old wooden sap buckets. He said he liked to ‘work on cars,’ which meant washing and waxing his vintage ’59 Mercedes 190 SL. He was admittedly never handy. He was proud of being one of the first professional offices with a computer — it took up an entire room — but the last to own a color TV. George enjoyed a good chess game and always brought his board with him to annual family reunions.

He loved fig newtons with condensed milk, the red clam chowder, and a good ribeye steak. He played the piano badly, was pretty good on the ukulele and was always an enthusiastic audience. He was a devout Episcopalian and served many years on the Vestry at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Little Silver. George lost his beloved wife Betty in 1984, and he remarried Peggy Johnson. They retired to Alstead, New Hampshire, where they lived in a 1700’s farmhouse for many years. Activities and hobbies now included stacking wood and driving garbage to the dump! George was a man of civility and good manners. At 96, he still opened doors for ‘the ladies’ and never got on the elevator first.
Loved ones of George Curchin in his obituary

George is survived by a large, loving, and grateful family: Barbara (Brad) Hall, Nancy (Charlie) Hales, John Curchin, Lynn Geltzeiler, eight grandchildren and 11 great grandchildren.

Visitation will be held at Thompson Memorial Home in Red Bank on Monday, July 15, from 6 to 8 p.m.. Funeral services will be the following day, July 16, at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Little Silver at 2 p.m.. In lieu of flowers the family requests donations be made to St. John’s Episcopal Church in Little Silver or St. John’s Episcopal Church in Walpole, NH.

— Edited obituary written by family via Thompson Memorial Home