Biographical Text
Professor Emeritus of Mathematical Sciences Rudy L. Curd (May 20, 1943-) was born in Watauga, Tennessee, the third child of Ruth Evelyn Shell and Roy Daniel Curd. The other siblings were Donald Robert, Linda Carol, and June Diana. Curd was valedictorian of his graduating class at Mary Hughes High School in Piney Flats, Tennessee, in 1961. He had been academically successful-with inclusion in the Beta club and participation in the National Honor Society-and athletically successful as a member of varsity teams in basketball, baseball, and track. Curd graduated in 1965 from Lincoln Memorial University with a B.S. degree in mathematics and minors in physics and chemistry. He obtained his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Kentucky, completing the Ph.D. degree in 1969. On August 21, 1965, Curd married Doris Faye Luntsford, the daughter of Fredrick and June Luntsford of Appalachia, Virginia, and they had two children. A daughter, Martha June (May 26, 1969-) completed a B.S. degree in accounting at the University of Tennessee. Another daughter, Laura Ann (November 28, 1970-) received a B.S. degree in hotel and restaurant management from the same university. Dr. Curd married Theresa Ellen Early (October 17, 1947-), the daughter of Genevieve and William B. Early, on June 20, 1980. Theresa is an extremely active member of the faculty at Appalachian State University, having been chair of the faculty senate and having held several positions in national mathematical organizations, such as governor of the Southeastern Section to the Mathematical Association of American. She also is a winner of the Rankin Award for outstanding mathematics educator to the North Carolina Teachers of Mathematics. Arriving in the fall of 1969, Dr. Curd spent his entire teaching career at Appalachian State University. He worked with university-wide programs like Upward Bound for high school enhancement and the Appalachian Partnership Program for college credit of Appalachian courses in mathematics for students still in high schools. Favorite projects done in calculus classes were his design of the "radar problem" (a patrolman takes a speed reading when not on the tangent to the path of travel) and the "falling lady" problem (a lady falls from a moving airplane over a lake at about 1,000 feet). Students remember these applications and the pig and cattle stories for many years. Dr. Curd's serious hobby interests include golf and farming. He has maintained a farming operation throughout his years of service to Appalachian State University. He and Theresa reside in nearby Ashe County, in their one-hundred-year-old farmhouse, where they are surrounded by streams, woodland, wildlife, and their herd of purebred Simmental cattle. Source: Personal correspondence. -Dr. Kay R. Dickson
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