[ Obituaries 4 ]

Topeka Capital-Journal, The, Oct 29, 2000 by Capital-Journal

James Allen Jr.

PARSONS --- James. H. "Jupe" Allen Jr., 80, Parsons, died Thursday, Oct. 26, 2000, at Joplin, Mo., medical center.

Mr. Allen served in the U.S. Army from 1941 to 1945 in North Africa and Sicily, and attained the rank of lieutenant colonel at an early age.

He was employed in sales by the Quaker Oats Co. from 1946 to 1957 and by the Commercial Transport Co. from 1957 to 1961. In 1961, he returned to Quaker Oats as a regional sales manager. He also was in sales for the Bankers Life and Casualty Co. in 1969 and 1970.

Mr. Allen operated the Galesburg Grain Co. in Galesburg from 1976 to 1986, and he had worked as an independent sales representative for the ADS Drainage Tubing Co. from 1971 until his death.

He was born James Howard Redman on Dec. 2, 1919, at Beaumont, Texas, the son of James Howard Redman and Ethel F. Collie Redman. His father died in 1920 when he was 18 months old. In 1924 his mother married James Howard Allen, who later adopted him.

Mr. Allen graduated from Beaumont High School in 1936, and he graduated with a degree in animal husbandry from Texas A&M in 1941.

He moved to Parsons in 1976.

Mr. Allen was a member of St. John's Episcopal Church of Parsons, the Texas A&M Band Alumni Association, the Kansas and Missouri Land Improvement Contractors Association and Alcoholics Anonymous.

He married Mary Lou Weber on Feb. 14, 1946, in Beaumont. She preceded him in death June 22, 1972.

He married Lillian Burdette Curci on Nov. 25, 1973, at Manhattan. She survives.

Other survivors include two sons, Dr. James H. Allen III, Edna, and Michael James Allen, Topeka; two daughters, Judy Wanner, Decatur, Texas and Robin Lethem, Overland Park; seven grandchildren; and one great-granddaughter.

Services will be at 10 a.m. Monday at St. John's Episcopal Church in Parsons. The family will receive friends at Carson-Wall Funeral Home in Parsons from 7 to 8:30 today. Committal services will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday at Magnolia Cemetery in Beaumont with Broussard Mortuary of Beaumont in charge of arrangements.

Memorial contributions may be made to St. John's Episcopal Church in Parsons.

William Burris

PARSONS --- William Eric Burris, 39, Parsons, died Thursday, Oct. 26, 2000, at a Parsons hospital.

After attending the Institute of Logopedics in Wichita, Mr. Burris later transferred to Parsons, where he lived for 18 years and worked for Quality Industries.

He was born June 30, 1961, the son of Lynn E. Burris and Myra B. Young.

Survivors include his father, Lynn E. Burris, Topeka; his mother, Myra B. Young, Bella Vista, Ark.; and a sister, Kyle Burris Rowland, Cambridge, England.

Services are pending.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Class LTD and sent in care of Weir Funeral Home, 104 W. Main, Weir, 66781.

Benjamin McCurtain

SAN FRANCISCO --- Benjamin Jameson McCurtain, 32, San Francisco, died Monday, Oct. 16, 2000, at a San Francisco hospital from injuries sustained after being hit by a train.

He had lived in San Francisco, where he was a software engineer, since January 2000. Earlier he had worked in the MRI Center at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

He was born May 25, 1968, in Santa Clara, Calif., the son of Mike Evans and Christina Jameson McCurtain. He moved with his family to Topeka in September 1969.

Mr. McCurtain graduated from Topeka High School in 1986. He was a member of National Honor Society, he was first chair cello and soloist with the Topeka High School Orchestra, and he lettered in swimming three years.

He received a bachelor of science degree in mathematics from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh in 1991. He had been a member of the Carnegie Mellon University Symphony Orchestra his freshman year and was a member of the Phi Kappa Theta fraternity.

Mr. McCurtain wrote two screen savers: "Psycho Deli," which was released by Berkeley Systems in 1996, and "Eyelid Movies," written in 1993 and now in the public domain. He played in a band, Raving Jehovas, comprised of young professional men, in Pittsburgh.

From September 1992 to December 1994, he worked at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center/Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic/ Department of Psychiatry and Carnegie Mellon Department of Psychology and Statistics. As a software engineer, he developed the IVANA --- Interactive Visualization and Analysis of Neural Activation --- software suite used for functional brain mapping, developing programs for brain research of the major mental illnesses, using MRIs.

More recently, he and Dr. Paul Chang at MR Research Center developed a new procedure to deliver diagnostic images over hospital computer networks. He owned two patents of the process.

Survivors include his parents, Mike and Christina McCurtain, Topeka; and a sister, Judith McCurtain Boland, Chicago.

Mr. McCurtain was cremated. Inurnment will be in Canfield Cemetery in Idabel, Okla., on May 25, 2001. Memorial services will be at 4 p.m. Saturday at Westminster Church in Topeka.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Topeka High School Music Department/Orchestra, 800 S.W. 10th St., and to the Mathematical Science Department of the Mellon College of Science, Carnegie Mellon University, 5000 Forbes Ave., Pittsburgh, 15213.