PLATONIC FRIENDSHIP GREW INTO ROMANTIC LOVE
By Sharon Butts Pierce
IF, by Rudyard Kipling, was a favorite poem committed to memory at Lake Shore High School in Belle Glade, Florida where they met. The poet formulated that if you can behave in certain ways, then “Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it.” These baby boomers attended separate and unequal segregated schools for twelve years, participated in triumphs of the civil rights movement and prayed for classmates drafted into the Vietnam War. From the beginning, their individual goals included living life to the fullest! Their high school platonic friendship of four years grew into romantic love during their college years and ultimately Sharon Butts and Curtis Pierce were united in holy matrimony in 1972 as Mr. & Mrs. Curtis Pierce.
Miami, Florida is where the family lived during the first fifteen years of marriage. The couple was blessed with the birth of one son and one daughter. Sharon, a proud graduate of Florida State University, was initially employed as a Cost Accounting Engineer with Southern Bell Telephone & Telegraph Company and was later promoted to the position of Regulatory Accounting Manager. One year prior to their marriage, Curtis enlisted in the United States Army Reserves. His military career consisted of active duty service as a U. S. Army Recruiter assigned to Miami area high schools. Curtis is a proud graduate of Florida Memorial University, a historically black college and university. Hobbies during the “good old days” included sewing, tennis, racquetball, bowling, bid whist, nightclubbing, travel, walking for babies and home improvement projects.
Sharon accepted a BellSouth corporate relocation to Atlanta in 1987 as Manager of Separation Studies for the nine state region. Curtis remained in Miami to complete an additional thirty months of active duty military service which proved to be an extremely challenging season of their marriage. After Curtis’ relocation to Atlanta he obtained his teaching certification to begin a second career as a Professional Educator. As fate would have it, Curtis was called to active duty service again for two years during the Persian Gulf War, gratefully assigned to military bases located in Georgia. When he returned to civilian life, Curtis began his nineteen year career as a Professional Educator.
Influenced by examples set by Curtis, both their son and daughter applied for and received Army ROTC scholarships to attend college. Curtis Pierce, II graduated from Harvard University, Class of 1994 and Cursha Pierce graduated from Stanford University, Class of 2002. They were commissioned as Second Lieutenants in the U.S. Army and served a combined total of twenty-eight years in the military with numerous deployments to war zones. Retired LTC Curtis Pierce, II is married with two children and Former Captain Cursha Pierce-Lunderman is married with three children. College, military service and grandparent duty created opportunities for Sharon and Curtis to travel to Alabama, California, Florida, Hawaii, Oklahoma, Maryland, Massachusetts, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Washington, D.C.
This adventure seeking couple has also enjoyed opportunities to travel to The Bahamas, Canada, Germany, Jamaica and Mexico. More international travel is in their future. Mr. & Mrs. Curtis Pierce celebrated their 48th Wedding Anniversary in 2020, staying safe at home.
Sharon Butts & Curtis Pierce
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