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Title
Oral history interview with Bill Curtin [Sound Recording 02]
Date(s)
- 2018-09-24 (Creation)
Extent
WAV (format); 00:21:42
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Biographical history
William Craib Curtin was born in Portland, Oregon, in 1942. He earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy from St. Edward Seminary in Kenmore, Washington, which now forms part of St. Edward Park. After finishing seminary in 1968, he returned to Portland and served as a priest at St. Charles Church. In 1971, he transferred to Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church, where he served until he left the priesthood in 1981. He worked closely with Albina Fair Share and with Oregon Fair Share. After leaving the priesthood, he worked in security, first at Legacy Emanuel Hospital, then as public safety director at Reed College. Curtin went on to have a 20-year career in higher education public safety at Lewis and Clark College. In 1985, he and Elizabeth "Liddy" Florence Krier were married. He retired in 2006, and continued to do consulting work with colleges and universities in the Northwest and across the country.
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Session 1, Part 2. This oral history interview with Bill Curtin was conducted by Greta K. Smith at Curtin’s home in Portland, Oregon, from September 24 to November 16, 2018. Bill Curtin was nominated by Oregonians to be interviewed as part of a program by the Oregon Historical Society Research Library to enhance and expand the range of voices in the library's collections. Interviewees are selected from the pool of nominees by a staff committee appointed by the historical society's executive director. The interview was conducted in four sessions. In the first interview session, conducted on September 24, 2018, Curtin discusses his family history and early life in the Laurelhurst neighborhood of Portland, including his Irish-Catholic heritage and discrimination his family faced as a result. He speaks at length about his father, Victor Aloysius Curtin, and his father’s career as a police officer in the Portland Police Bureau and involvement with Portland’s black community. He discusses his early interest in joining the Catholic priesthood. He then talks about his education at St. Edward Seminary in Kenmore, Washington, including the changes in the Catholic Church after World War II, some of his professors and fellow students, and his interest in social justice issues. He also talks about community service he did during seminary; shares his memories of Vietnam War protests; and discusses how the issue of birth control affected the church.
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Portions of the audio and transcript have been redacted by Bill Curtin. Copyright for this interview is held by the Oregon Historical Society. Use is allowed according to the following statement: Creative Commons - BY-NC-SA, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/.
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- eng
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- Wisnewski, Greta Smith (Contributor)