[dropcap]Friends[/dropcap] and family popped up with a surprise party Saturday in honor of Edgar Currier, who celebrates his 90th birthday on Nov. 24. They gathered at the Bartlett Baptist Church on Kirby Whitten Road in Bartlett, creating a party complete with a poster and photos reviewing his life, as well as cake, balloons and home-cooked refreshments.
During a conversation there, he admitted he found out about the party in advance. “In fact, I tried to talk my wife out of it,” he said, smiling. “But she insisted on doing it, so that’s fine.”
Children and grandchildren all live within about a 25-mile radius, he said, and many were able to make the trip to pay their respects and give hugs to the family patriarch.
He spoke briefly and gratefully to the crowd of people who love him, talking about a quiet life well lived. He has been devoted to family and to steadily growing his CPA business, and he’s also maintained other interests, such as golfing or duck hunting with friends.
He recounted one hunting trip to Reelfoot Lake when it was frozen over and their guide took them out over the ice on a big air boat with an airplane engine on it. “And boy, we went right across that ice. You talk about being cold!”
Currier was born in Kansas, and then his father moved the family to Chicago because of work with International Harvester. They eventually transferred to the Memphis area. Currier got his degree in accounting at the University of Memphis and earned his certificate as a certified public accountant, working for a large firm until 1980, when he opened his own office on Bartlett Boulevard.
He and his wife Barbara have been married for 33 years. She had a son and daughter when they married, and Currier had a son. The two have grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
About two years ago, he and his wife downsized from a home on Garner Lake to a home within Sterling Place, a 55+ community of about 120 independent-living homes located east of Canada Road in Lakeland. He didn’t retire from his business until about a year and a half ago,
In retirement, the Curriers have kept busy with a membership at the YMCA in Cordova, staying fit with two-hour visits three days a week to walk and do other exercises.
His family chuckled when he talked about reaching his age, saying, “Anybody that had told me when I was a teenager that I was gonna celebrate my 90th birthday, I’d have said, ‘You’re crazy.”
He also mentioned his sister, who lives in California and who is 18 months older than he is.
Concluding his remarks at the party, Currier said, “Thanks again for everybody coming.” His wife piped up to gesture toward the buffet table, adding, “And eat up.”
CAROLYN BAHM is the editor of The Bartlett Express. Contact her at (901) 433-9138 or via email to carolyn.bahm@journalinc.com.
