Mabel Johnson Curran

Mabel Johnson Curran

Mabel passed away peacefully in her sleep on June 28, 2014 at 89 years old. She was born to Swedish immigrants and Alaska pioneers, Emma and Helmer Johnson, on November 11, 1924 in Fairbanks.

She was predeceased by her brother, Edgard; her sister, Irene; and her husband, James P. Curran.

Mabel spent her first twenty years in Alaska growing up as the daughter of hard working gold miners. The harsh winters were spent living in town and attending school. Every summer the family moved out to the mining camps located along various creeks in the wilderness. Mom spent her summers picking blueberries, wandering the hills, riding the dredge and making her own fun. She developed a great love for the outdoors, ingenuity, creativity, and a certain shyness with people her own age. After all, most of her friends were prospectors; there are very few kids to play with when you live in the Last Frontier.

In the winter of 1944, Mabel worked as an usherette at the Lacey Street Theater in Fairbanks. One night after the last movie, she noticed a young man sleeping on the counter of the luncheonette adjoining the theater. She woke him asking him to leave. Trouble was, he had no car and it was 50 below outside. Mabel gave him a ride back to Ladd Field where he was stationed. The young man was an Army Air Corps enlistee from Spokane and by September 1944 they were Mr. and Mrs. James Curran.

They left Fairbanks and came “outside” shortly before the war ended. After Jim finished law school in Seattle, they moved to Kent in 1948 with their oldest child. Mabel and Jim remained lifelong Kent members. There, they raised their four children: Maureen, Tim (Annie), Janet (Bob), and Mark (Julie). Together they loved and enjoyed their grandchildren: Maureen, Reilly, Joe, Emma (Rob), and Meg. Mabel was blessed with three more grand-baby’s after Jim passed: Brody, Nola and Gus.

Mabel’s best times in life were spent at Deep Creek in the mountains; Pearl Island in the San Juan’s; on the island of Kauai and in her own garden. She loved sharing all of those spaces with her family along with lovely home-cooked meals and scrumptious pies. From a dog team in Alaska to her yellow labs in Kent; pets were always part of her life.

The family would like to thank her caregivers for the past nine years: wonderful Katarina; and the Termure Family. We could not have done it without them!

Funeral Mass will be celebrated Wednesday, July 9th at 10:30 at Holy Spirit Catholic Church, 327 Second Ave South, Kent.

Remembrances may be made to the

Kent Food Bank at www.skcfc.org or Seattle Childrens @ www.seattlechildrens.org

Hoffner Fisher & Harvey Guestbook at

harveyfuneral.com