Mary Elizabeth Curtis, who spent more than 30 years in Alpine District schools, died Sept. 14 at age 73. She also worked nearly 40 years at Broadbent's General Store, one of Lehi's oldest businesses.

Curtis died on her birthday from complications of injuries she suffered in a Feb. 6 car accident at 850 East State Street in Lehi, according to her obituary in the Lehi Free Press. For nearly seven weeks after the crash, she walked on an undetected broken hip. The injury set off a decline that took her through six hospitals and care facilities over her final five and a half months.

Her family wrote that even through repeated near-death experiences, Curtis kept an optimistic outlook. Caregivers at her various facilities competed to be assigned to her room. One did cartwheels at her bedside. Another shot confetti during a transfer to a new facility.

Curtis began her Alpine District career as an unpaid playground supervisor. Her family wrote that she "would have paid to be with the kids." She went on to teach reading and do clerical work before spending her final 20-plus years at Lehi High.

Outside the school district, Curtis worked for nearly 40 years at Broadbent's General Store on 100 East in Lehi. The store, which Lara Bangerter of the Lehi Historical Society called "Lehi's longest-running family-owned business" in a May 2025 Lehi Free Press article, operated from 1882 until it closed in 2017. The Lehi Police Department building now stands on the site, its arched windows a nod to the original structure, according to the Lehi Historical Society.

Curtis was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and served roughly 50 years in the nursery. She also served as a stake and ward Young Women's camp director, leading overnight backpacking trips for fourth-year girls over many years.

She married Danny Lee Curtis on July 1, 1972, after meeting him on a blind date. They were married 54 years. She is survived by her husband; son Adam Curtis; daughter Elizabeth Webb; her mother, Patricia Bone; sister Kaye Lynn Curtis; brother Douglas Ray Bone; and four grandchildren.

Funeral services were held Sept. 22 at the Gateway Stake Center in Lehi. The family asked mourners to wear crazy socks "to walk a mile in Mary's legacy."