Curtis Paul Walker

Curtis Paul Walker, 41, philosopher, debater, comedian, sci-fi fantasy geek extraordinaire, planeswalker, and master skiller & overseer to The Mutinous Lot passed away at his home in Lynnwood, surrounded by family and friends, on December 24^th 2015 after fighting stage 4 cancer as hard as he could for almost 8 months.

He was born in Carson City, Nevada in 1974 to Kay Cooper and William Walker, much to the displeasure of his older brother Shain Maschino, who for almost 9 years enjoyed being an only child and all the attention that position comes with.

Kay remarried a wonderful man, Robert Cooper, whom Curtis would call dad for the rest of his life, and gained two step-brothers, Michael and Bobby Cooper. A sister, Jill Wade (née Cooper), was born when Curtis was 4 ½.

And those siblings laughed & played together and enjoyed each others company every day – not really. Curtis had the stories to tell and the scars to prove that being a younger brother isn’t always easy, and that taking care of the precious little baby sister can get really annoying most on the time when all he wanted to do was play with his GI Joes and Star Wars toys.

Of course, years later Shain, Curtis, and Jill truly did enjoy each other very much and would do anything for one another.

Curtis was definitely a brainy guy who excelled in school, so much so that the military contacted him in high school wanting to make use of his intelligence. But Curtis was his own person – anti big brother, questioning authority and religion, a free thinker – and dismissed their interest in him.

He had better things to do, like drama, geeking it out with his D&D and Magic The Gathering friends, attending concerts during the peak of the Seattle grunge scene, and contemplating life over a cup of Joe before hanging out at coffee shops became a ‘thing’.

Curtis was always very confident & independent and was a hard worker, moving out of the family home when he was 17 ½ years old and climbing up to management positions in nearly every job he had, which included delivering newspapers, stocking shelves at a grocery store, and working at a bowling alley.

It was there at the bowling alley in Bellevue, in the year 1998, that he met his wife, Michell Walker (née Moore). He was concerned that having just become a father to a newborn daughter, Katrina Burgin-Walker, would be too much for their new relationship to handle. But their love for each other was too strong to let anything get in the way, and Michell loved that baby girl as though she were her own.

In June of 2002 Curtis and Michell publicly proclaimed their unconditional love for each other at their wedding ceremony in Lake Stevens.

In 2003 another daughter was born, Elora Walker, and their family felt complete. In 2005 they bought their townhouse in Lynnwood.

Shortly after Elora’s birth Curtis started working at a company in Seattle, Sun Supply Inc., where once again he worked his way up to management and stayed employed until his cancer diagnosis. He was very invested in the company, always giving 100%, and was very highly thought of by his coworkers and the vendors & customers.

Curtis enjoyed yearly camping trips all over Washington State Parks with his family as well as the occasional drop into the middle of nowhere with his friends, exploring the new exhibits and catching a laser or IMAX show at the Pacific Science Center, weekly game nights with his Magic The Gathering crew, meeting up for cousins get-togethers at Rattlesnake Lake, and grabbing a burger from 5 Guys.

But his favorite place was at home with his wife and daughters where he would enjoy watching si-fi & fantasy shows & movies, playing board games like Settlers Of Catan and Talisman, watching the Seahawks win (especially against the 49ers), mining and going on quests in the Runescape world, and just sitting on the couch next to his wife, making her laugh.

In the months that he was home after his cancer diagnosis he wished he had had more energy and strength to do the things he enjoyed, both outside and inside the home. But just being able to be around his family that entire time, getting to see them first thing in the morning, in the middle of the day, and last thing at night was a huge gift to all of them. Time is all they wanted with each other.

Curtis was far too young to leave us, and as a close friend of his said, “the quality of the human race is diminished profoundly by his passing”. Truer words were never spoken.

Curtis was a genuinely good & honest person. Not because he had anything to gain from that or because that was what was expected of him. He was a good person down to his core because that was his nature, because that is who he was. Thank you Curtis for being you.

A celebration of life is being planned and the details will be posted on the family’s blog. In lieu of flowers we ask that you consider taking just a couple of hours of your time to go donate blood in Curtis’ honor.

Or if you prefer, please make a donation in Curtis’ name to the Swedish Cancer Institute https://community.swedish.org/donate/cancer  or to the Esophageal Cancer Awareness Association http://www.ecaware.org/give/donate/