March 19, 2024

Newton man among group featured in Newsweek — twice

Magazine followed up on 1966 feature with ‘where they are now’

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In 1966, the concerns of American teenagers might have ranged from the draft and seeing combat duty in Vietnam to who had listened to the latest Rolling Stones record.

A national magazine documenting these concerns and other aspects of 1966 teenage American life interviewed a Newton-area 13-year-old, Bruce Curtis.

Curtis was interviewed again recently for Newsweek’s 50-year follow-up on the lives of those same teenagers.

“A few of us ended up being successful, and a few of us weren’t,” Curtis said. “I ended up living in places like Oklahoma and New Jersey, and meeting lots of people who don’t know the difference between sweet corn and field corn. Iowans are still friendly, but there’s a little bit faster pace of life now.”

Since Newsweek published its follow-up story May 12, Curtis, 63, has been contacted by Iowa radio stations and other media outlets, giving him a notoriety he didn’t even experience after the 1966 interview. Curtis somehow ended up as a 13-year-old rural Iowan who was photographed and interviewed by Newsweek on his family farm and at Newton High School, including a band practice.

“That was uncommon at the time,” Curtis said about the fervor in town of having national news media present. “You have to remember, even going to Des Moines was kind of an event back in those days.”

Curtis went on to be the NHS Class of 1970’s president, earned a degree from Iowa State University, married his high-school sweetheart, Beverly, with whom he had two sons, Matt and Mitch, and launched a 40-plus-year career in the meatpacking industry.

His career took the Curtis family to 11 cities, including New York City, where he worked for Continental Grain and met many people who knew little or nothing about Newton.

“People seemed to know about tornadoes,” he said. “And, occasionally, Maytag washing machines and blue cheese.”

Curtis said New York and New Jersey are very international. While an Iowan could go a long time without meeting someone born in another country, the East Coast is filled with a multi-cultural mix, all the time — even if that mix is somewhat fast-paced and high-strung.

“People seemed under a lot of stress there, and don’t talk to each other as much. I remember an interview I had in the World Trade Center with a guy who smoked and seemed quite miserable.”

Curtis’s father, Carol, passed away in the 1990s. Bruce’s employer was downsizing at about that same time. Matt was already out of high school, and their younger son, Mitch, was about to start his senior year of high school.

In 1998, Bruce, Beverly and Mitch moved back to Iowa — to the family farm — with Mitch’s senior year being at his father’s alma mater, Newton High.

“Fortunately, our family moved well,” Curtis said.

Mitch went out for football as a senior in 1998, excelling in the kicking game. His 49-yard field goal against Johnston still stands as the Cardinal team record. He again followed in his father’s footsteps by attending Iowa State, earning one letter as a placekicker on the Cyclone football team.

Today, Bruce and Beverly still reside at the family farm. Bruce is now the co-owner of Shelby Foods, an international processor of which turns meat products and raw materials for the meat, pet food and pharmaceutical industries.

Curtis stayed involved with Newton High School alumni activities, so he had never gone long without coming back for a reunion. However, living back in Jasper County for the past 18 years gave him some unique perspectives by the time Newsweek called for its 50-year follow-up.

“We still have good churches and schools — that hasn’t changed,” Curtis said. “We don’t have the single big manufacturing plant, but we have some smaller ones, and we have Newton DMACC and the Career Academy. Having a skilled-trade school like that, so close by, is something we never even talked about in the 1960s. We also didn’t have all the sports and activities kids can choose from today.”

Curtis said he also realizes how small the world has become not simply to his wife, sons and their two grandchildren, but to everyone.

“Folks think nothing of taking a car ride somewhere out of town now,” Curtis said. “We’re much more mobile as a society now.”

While there still might be many misconceptions or lack of knowledge about Newton in the world, Curtis said he’s proud of what his hometown has become.

“It’s pretty easy to find negatives,” Curtis said. “But I like a lot of the things happening here, and some of the Main Street Iowa program has some real potential. We’re not going to grow as fast as Ankeny or Altoona. But there are some good things coming in the years ahead.”

The Newsweek profile of Curtis in 1966 and 2016 can be found here: bit.ly/1WOOaI4

Contact Jason W. Brooks at 641-792-3121 ext. 6532 or jbrooks@newtondailynews.com