Mary Curtin: She Hears the Call to Music
Mary Curtin, President of the Peninsula Committee for the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra
When Mary Curtin isn’t doing the New York Times crossword puzzle in ink every morning, she just might be leading a meeting of the Peninsula Committee for the Los Angeles Philharmonic—or a meeting of Bravo, PVE Cares or the Special Children’s League.
This effervescent, 35-year resident of Palos Verdes Estates has always been a very active person, a quality she learned from her parents, she said during a recent interview in the Via Elevado home she shares with her husband, Don, four cats, a dog and several poaching peacocks whose leader she calls “Reggie.”
As the incoming president and 12-year member of the Philharmonic’s local committee, Curtin is putting together—with the help of other committee members—the 2010 Grand Salon planned for 5 p.m., Sunday, June 6 at the Resort Point home of Carolyn and Julian Elliott.
The Salon benefits music programs for local schoolchildren and is a precursor to the group’s major fundraiser set for Sept. 12 at Chadwick School. The demise of the Music Fair has prompted the need for new sources of revenue, she explained, “but we continue to give about $25,000 annually to the Palos Verdes Unified School District to support its various music programs.”
Curtin is especially excited about the Salon this year, she said, because for the first time, musical ensembles from Palos Verdes High School and Peninsula High School will participate in the upcoming soirée. “It’s a first,” she exclaimed, adding that three Los Angeles Philharmonic musicians will also be performing for guests: Stacy Wetzel, violin; Minor Wetzel, viola, and David Garrett, cello.
Other features of the evening will be silent and chance auctions for weekend getaways, Hollywood Bowl seats, tickets to sports events, catered dinners and “pampering specials.” Several South Bay restaurants will provide “tantalizing tastings,” she added, all with the intention of enriching the musical lives of children.
By way of explaining her longstanding involvement with the Philharmonic committee, Curtin said, “I can’t imagine not having music in my life. Except for background music, I like all kinds—even Sting—but I really listen to music.” And she continues her passion by playing the piano she learned from eight years of study as a child. In high school, she was part of an all-girls dance band and a community band. Small wonder that she’s willing to spend at least 20 hours a week fulfilling her current Philharmonic Committee obligations.
Curtin’s zest for service probably started when she was a youngster growing up in Inglewood with her parents and older brother. “My mother always worked,” she said, and coming from a large family in Butte, Mont., she learned early that you have to work, she explained. Her father’s early heart attack, Curtin added, was an even greater incentive for her mother to support the family. Besides, Curtin smiled, “She didn’t like to cook. My father was a much better cook.”
Education was always paramount in her family, she pointed out. “I’ve always thought that it’s better to do than not to do,” Curtin observed by way of explaining her commitment to learning and serving others. And, despite the complexities of the assorted tasks she’s undertaken during her various involvements, she had this thought on her continued commitment: “I love puzzles. Maybe I have a knack for solving puzzles.”
A graduate of St. Mary’s Academy, she went on to UCLA where she majored in kinesiology, and then moved on to USC’s graduate program in physical therapy. In her first job, she worked for the state’s Crippled Children’s Services, spending time with orthopedically handicapped youngsters. Of her work with similar agencies serving the same young patients, she had this to say: “I feel it’s payback for my having children without such problems. I saw so many parents whose lives were severely affected by a child with special needs.”
Her commitment to dealing with such needs prompted her to join the local chapter of the Special Children’s League in 1999, where she has served as president and where, at present, she is involved in the group’s upcoming Nov. 19 fundraiser at the Palos Verdes Golf Club.
But in the early, unmarried days, even while she already had a full-time job, she was casting about for more to do, Curtin said. “I was bored,” she explained. “I took a fashion trunk show to Edwards AFB since my sister-in-law was in charge of programs for the Officers’ Wives Club.” She didn’t report the sales she made that day, but she did find a husband, Captain Donald Curtin, who she married one year later in 1961 at St. Jerome’s Catholic Church in Westchester.
The arrival of their four children delayed her return to academia, but Curtin later enrolled in La Maze classes at Little Company of Mary Hospital, becoming a Certified Childbirth Educator and running the department for five years until she returned to UCLA and obtained another master’s degree, this time in Public Health. After graduation, she said, she developed physical therapy departments at several health agencies in the South Bay and even worked part time as physical therapist at Little Company. At present, she works in that capacity on weekends at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Beverly Hills.
As a young mother, she recalled being active in Brownies, Girl Scouts, high school booster clubs as well as PTAs, adding Pan Hellenic and the National Charity League to her long list of involvements during that period in her life.
At present, one of her sons and a daughter live in the area, and have given her four grandsons. The other daughter lives in Sacramento and the other son is a major in the Air Force in Greeley, Colo.
Despite the demands of her domestic life, her maternal life, her professional life and her philanthropic life, Curtin has time for tennis three days a week, reading for her book group assignments and “walking near the ocean.”
But there is more: Always a party planner, she frequently hosts dinner parties in her home for six to eight guests—and she does all the cooking. She even turns out major feasts at least twice a year for 70 to 80 people—also in her home. “I like to cook,” she explains. “I even prepare dinner at home for the two of us every evening.”
As a woman who has spent a good part of her life in service to others, how could it be otherwise?
For further information and reservations for the June 6 Grand Salon call 310-375-7051. PEN