Curtis Jenkins was a straight shooter.
Friends and family who attended the Vietnam War veteran’s memorial service on Veterans Day — Jenkins’ birthday — mentioned his honesty and directness again and again.
“He told it like it is,” said Deanne Parker, his daughter.
The longtime Golden resident graduated from Golden High School in 1967, served as a truck driver in the 6-15th artillery during the Vietnam War until 1969, and married his wife Janet in 1970. He spent his time raising horses and cattle on the family ranch near White Ranch Open Space Park.
Jenkins died Oct. 21 of a chronic lung disease. More than 100 people celebrated his life at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post No. 4171 in Pleasant View. Well-wishers, old friends and family members packed the building, laughing and greeting people they hadn’t seen in years.
There were more smiles in the room than tears. That was the effect Jenkins had on people, said his sister, Cherie Vigil.
“It was just him and me,” Vigil said. “We were 15 months apart, and we grew up on the farm, and we’d always play together. He wouldn’t hurt a fly.”
His friendly personality made him many close friends during his time in Vietnam, including Larry Morris, a Missouri resident who hadn’t seen Jenkins face-to-face since the end of their tour together.
“He was good, as far as a friend. He was the first person I met when I got there, and he showed me the ropes. That’s the kind of impact he made,” Morris said.
Morris and Jenkins kept in touch by phone for 38 years, updating each other on their families, jobs and lives. Morris and his wife drove from Missouri for the memorial service to meet Jenkins’ loved ones for the first time.
He pointed out Jenkins’ son, Mark, amid the crowd.
“I recognized Mark because he looks just like him,” he said.
Mark Jenkins remembers his father as “a loving, caring father who would give you the shirt off his back.”
The two also share a love of animals.
“He loved any kind, dogs, cats, you name it.”
Mark Jenkins lists his pets as two horses, five cats and four dogs.
Jenkins’ soft side was clear, but he also had a worn feeling to him, Parker said.
“My dad is hard to explain in words. He had a kind soul, but he was a weathered man,” she said.
Jenkins’ mother, Ann Jenkins, said the war affected him the way it affected most Vietnam veterans.
“The day he was inducted into the Army, we took him and two of his buddies to Denver. He was the only one who came back. He had a guilty feeling, the typical Vietnam feelings,” she said.
His mother wished he could have lived past the current war in Iraq.
“He hated this war,” she said. “I wish he could have seen its end.”
Jenkins missed one tragic family event after his passing. Less than two weeks after his death, his son, Keith, died in a motorcycle accident.
The accident left his already-grieving family even more devastated.
Family and friends were reluctant to talk about the tragedy, hoping to focus on the bright spots of Curt Jenkins’ life instead.
“He was unpredictable but dependable,” said Janet Jenkins, his wife. She laughed through the tears as she shared inside jokes about her husband with a close circle of friends.
“My husband, you could write a book about him,” she said.