Champion for Families, Education, Service
Mrs. Veronica P. Curtis, now Mrs. Curtis-Richie, after her recent marriage to the Rev. W. Temple Richie, Jr., is a native of Huntsville and a long-time active resident at several levels of our community life.
A graduate of Butler High School and Alabama A& M, with a BS and two (2) Masters degrees, she was employed by the Huntsville City School System for 34 years. During her tenure there, she held many challenging and different positions: Learning Disabilities Teacher, Drug Education Instructor and Coordinator of Drug Education for the entire Huntsville City School System, School Counselor and Curriculum Specialist. She also worked with the Huntsville Madison County Mental Health Center as a Prevention Specialist and at the Alabama A & M University Upward Bound Program as a Reading /Literature Instructor, as well as counselor. She retired from her teaching career in August of 2010.
Since January of 2011, she has been employed by the Military Child Education Coalition, headquartered in Harker Heights, TX, as a Professional Development Trainer. She travels to various military sites to provide professional development of Train the Trainer workshops offered to military families, children, and educators as they learn to operate in the “new normal” after multiple moves due to parents’ transitions during their military careers.
Her most recent local community involvement has been with North Alabama Community United for Action. She was responsible for the organization and implementation of that organization’s community-wide Education Summit. She is an active member of First Missionary Baptist Church, where she serves on the Board of Deaconesses and co-chairs the Benevolent Committee. Her community involvement also includes volunteering with the Community Free Dental Clinic, the HelpLine, and the Huntsville Assistance Program. She is a past member of North Alabama Habitat for Humanity and an Alabama for Better Care at Life’s End volunteer.
She is currently a member of the Huntsville Hospital Patient and Family Advisory Council, the Redstone Arsenal Community Women’s Club, the First Missionary Baptist Bereavement Committee, and Leadership Huntsville Focus Class 20. She also serves as Personnel Chairperson for the Julius R. Scruggs Child Development Center and Academy.
Her organizational affiliations include the Robert “Bob” Harrison Senior Advocacy and Wellness Center Advisory Board, Alabama A & M University Progressive Alumni Association. As a Silver Life Member of the NAACP, she currently serves as Membership Chair of the local Huntsville Madison County Branch NAACP, and was secretary from 2010-2014. She was also a “lead person” in developing the “Navigation Training” locally for the Affordable Health Care Act.
She is the mother of one son, Stanley Curtis, Jr, who is also an Alabama A&M graduate.
