Hope Curfman

Hope Griswold Curfman left this temporal World on April 18, 2015, living a full life of 96 years. Born on June 15, 1918, to James Harlan and Hope Griswold in Cleveland, Ohio, she was named after her Quaker mother, Hope Erwin. Hope was the youngest of four siblings, well-educated and confident socially. She attended Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania, where she earned her Bachelor's degree in Psychology in 1940, followed by a Master's degree in Social Work from Case Western Reserve University in 1942. As an independent woman she eschewed the family tradition of attending nearby Oberlin College where her Mom and Dad met, and her three siblings, Erwin, Jim and Jane graduated. After graduation while attending a wedding in Denver, Hope replied to her parents in a telegram saying, ""the grass is greener in the West!"" She had met the love of her life, a young military doctor named George H. Curfman Jr. They were married five months later, November 21, 1942, and their love remained strong throughout their 54 years of marriage, until George's death in 1996. From 1944 to 1954, Hope and George had five children; Claudia, Hardy, Jim, Bob, and Paul. They settled in Denver in 1947, where George began his private practice. It was in Denver that Hope demonstrated her ability to, ""bloom where you are planted,"" as she would say. Her family was a primary focus, and she consistently served to improve the lives of others. She had a genuine love for Montview Boulevard Presbyterian Church where she was an elder, where she helped establish the columbarium, and where her remains will rest. One of her good friends there said, ""she was a source of inspiration, her courage and compassion were legendary, she lived her faith every moment of her life, and set a wonderful example for each of us to follow."" As a Sunday school teacher she would encourage her students to teach each other, because she knew, ""how you taught was important as what you taught."" Hope lived her name. She knew how fortunate she was to be educated and it was her purpose in life, yea, her obligation, to utilize her training and compassion to improve the conditions for those less fortunate. She was remarkable at recruiting and inspiring others and viewed everyone with respect, as her equal, as friends, even as family. And, she would never expect anyone to do more than she did or anything she wouldn't do herself. She and her friends, the 'Harried Housewives' met for over 50 years and had a knack, too, for befriending influential people, and for making things happen. One of her many ""adopted"" sons once exclaimed that ""Hope could run a small country!"" Hope helped establish the Hope Center in Denver to provide previously unavailable services for special needs students, including autistic children, which continues to operate now. She continued to develop special needs programs as a Social Worker for the Denver Public Schools from 1963 to 1974 where she counseled families with autistic children. The tragic death of her only daughter Claudia in 1977, and the absence of adequate models for understanding their loss, propelled her and George into grief counseling, leading to the establishment of the renowned Grief Education Institute. GEI became a model for disseminating the Kubler-Ross principles of empathy through the grieving process. Growing up during the depression, she was abundantly aware that being wasteful was consumptive and simply not necessary. She encouraged everyone to recycle and reuse long before it became popular. Hope loved the outdoors; tennis, swimming, skiing, hiking, camping, and canoeing. She shared her joy of birds, animals, trees, wildflowers, the moon and her genuine respect for Mother Earth. She loved to travel and meet new people of different cultures, visiting England, Italy, Greece, Israel, China, Central and South America. At the age of 90, Hope was the president of the Park Place Resident's Association where, yes she established a recycling program, and at 92, helped to publish a history of the place where she lived for 12 years. She wrote constantly; poems, letters, the history of her grandchildren's names, and more. The last years of her life she was afflicted with severe dementia, yet the concept of ""growing old with grace"" was so deeply instilled in her that she remained positive and transformed her environment into one filled with gratitude among all her family, friends and aides. Hope was preceded in death by her husband George, her daughter Claudia, and recently her grandson, Ryan Johanningmeier. She is survived by: four sons, George (Anne), James (Sandy), Robert, and Paul (Karyn); four grandchildren, Joshua, Charles (Amber), Matthew, and Rose; two great grandchildren, Hailey and Makayla; plus multiple cousins, nieces and nephews in both the Curfman and Griswold clans; all of whom were privileged and grateful to have known and loved Hope. A memorial service in Hope's honor will be held at Montview Presbyterian Church on Friday May 1st at 11 a.m. Donations in lieu of flowers should be made to Habitat for Humanity or Montview Church. Please share your memories of Hope and condolences with her family by signing the guestbook below.