(Dec. 11, 1997, Gazette)
Dr. Thomas Vincent Curran

Dr. Thomas Vincent Curran passed away in Gander Nov. 30 after a brief illness.

Dr. Curran is most widely known for his dedication to the foresters of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Shortly after the beginning of the Second World War, at age 26, Dr. Curran led more than 400 men
to Scotland to serve as foresters. During the war more than 2,000 young Newfoundlanders followed,
cutting timber to be used as pit props for the coal mines of England. Dr. Curran was the unit’s district
manager.

The war ended in 1945, but Dr. Curran’s efforts continued. He founded the Newfoundland Overseas
Foresters Association and fought to have the foresters recognized for their war effort. Dr. Curran was
instrumental in the passage of the Civilian War Pensions and Allowances Act. His book, They Also Served,
documents their story. Royalties from the book go to support a student at Sir Wilfred Grenfell College
heading for a career in forestry.

Dr. Curran later turned his attention and energy from the forests to the sea. During the 1960s and 70s,
he managed the province’s seal hunt for the federal Department of Fisheries.

While he first entered Memorial University College in 1928, Dr. Curran received an honorary doctor
of laws degree from Memorial in 1995. In an oration at the convocation, Dr. John Scott said of him:
"His special genius has been always to have had the heart to see and the mind to love the extraordinary
in Newfoundland’s ordinary people, and the sacredness of her animals, her forests and their natural places."

Dr. Curran leaves to mourn his wife, Margaret, two sons, four daughters, one brother and two sisters.