Dr. Paul Guy Curlee
Obituaries
Grand Junction Daily Sentinel page 3D - June 2, 2013
Dr. Paul Guy Curlee of Durango,
CO died Friday, May 24,
2013, in Farmington, NM, after a
courageous effort against cancer.
He was 68.
Dr. Curlee was born December
16, 1944, in Sterling, Colorado,
the second of four boys born to
Kenneth William Curlee and Portia
A. Lubchenco. He graduated
from Sterling High School and went on to Davidson College in
North Carolina, finishing his Bachelors in 1967.
As a lieutenant in the Army, Dr. Curlee served as a medic in Vietnam
from 1968 -1969.
Upon returning from the war, Dr. Curlee went to the University of
Texas in Austin where he studied microbiology. He then graduate d
from the University of Colorado School of Medicine in 1975. He
specialized in internal medicine starting with his internship a t
McGill University in Montreal, Canada. He completed his residency
at University of Vermont in Burlington in 1980.
Dr. Curlee continued to practice medicine for more than 30 years.
He had a private practice in Grand Junction, Colorado. He then
worked for the St. Mary's Family Medicine Residency Program
where he shared his passion for teaching medicine. In 2000, Dr.
Curlee moved to Pasadena, California and later to Sonoma, California
where he worked as a hospitalist. In 2007, he moved to Durango
and took a position with San Juan Regional Medical Center in
Farmington, New Mexico also working as a hospitalist.
A revered physician, Dr. Curlee equally honored his fellow medical
colleagues and appreciated the abundant love and support from
San Juan Regional Medical Center, Mayo Clinic - Phoenix, and Se -
attle Cancer Care Alliance.
In addition to his successful career as a doctor, Dr. Curlee was a
multifaceted artist, writer, angler, reader, musician, and lover of music.
He always carried a black notebook and both wrote and
sketched daily. His drawings catalogued images of his daughters as
ballerina, mother, performer, and traveler. His paintings often expressed
the beautiful landscapes of his beloved Colorado, South -
west desert, and many foreign traveled lands. He read voraciously
and surrounded his life with the classics as well as the more obtuse
books of physics and medical research. Dr. Curlee played the guitar,
violin, and French horn. A fisherman his entire life, Dr. Curlee had
yet to catch big-fish, "Walter", who still swims in the Animas River.
Dr. Curlee is survived by three loving daughters, Ericka, Alexi, and
Sophie, as well as four grandchildren and three brothers. He will be
dearly missed by his entire extended family and friends alike.
Memorial service will be held at Ridgewood Event Center - Blue
Lake Ranch in Durango, CO on Tuesday, June 4th at 10:00 a.m.
The family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations may be made
online to Music in the Mountains , o r t o B r i d g e t o H e a l i n g I n c .
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