autobiography of kathleen curto
I was
born in San Francisco, California, on June 23, 1952, and was the second of
eight children. My father was a student in dental school, and my mother stayed
home to take care of the family. I lived in San Francisco for three years, and
then my family moved to Pennsylvania for my father’s post-graduate training in
oral surgery. After completing his training, we moved back to Los Angeles and
eventually settled in Oceanside, California, where my father set up his oral
surgery practice in 1959.
I was
raised in a very devout Catholic home. My parents were actively involved in the
parish church, and I attended Catholic school through my sophomore year in high
school. At that time I transferred to the public high school and graduated in
1970 from Oceanside High School. I had an older brother, two younger brothers,
and four younger sisters. Because of the large family in which I was raised, I
learned to be responsible at a very young age. We had a very happy family life;
and as a young girl growing up, I had many opportunities afforded to me. My
parents, however, were very strict and had very high expectations for all of
their children. As I began high school, I started to rebel against what I
considered to be a very strict upbringing and I began to sneak around behind my
parents’ backs. I grew more and more rebellious throughout my teen years and
was caught up in the “counter-culture” of the late 1960s. It was during my
senior year of high school that I met Tony Curto and we started dating very
seriously. He was a year younger than I was, but, though my parents had plans
for me to graduate and go away to college, Tony and I decided we did not want
to be separated. In October 1970 we married, much to the dismay of our parents.
In
February of 1971, we had our first child, Matthew. Four weeks after Matthew was
born, it was determined that he had been born with cataracts and was legally
blind. This was a turning point in our lives, because now we were a young
married couple with a handicapped infant and suddenly faced with a great deal
of responsibility. We did not handle the pressure of these responsibilities
very well and by the fall after Matthew was born, we were doing some real
questioning as to what all of these events meant for us.
At the
same time, the “Jesus Movement” had become very widespread in Southern
California. We had many friends who had become Christians and were constantly
coming to us and sharing the gospel with us. As Tony began listening to them
and reading the Bible, I realized over a period of time that he was changing. I
knew that I had to get right with God, but because Roman Catholicism was the
only religion I knew, I returned to the Catholic church. I had not attended
church since I had moved out of my house to marry Tony. It did not take long
for me to realize that Catholicism had no answers for me. During this period of
time, Tony was under a great deal of conviction. He began to understand his
sinful state and to call upon Christ for forgiveness. I fought against what was
happening to him because I was so confused by my own upbringing and the true
gospel. Tony made a profession of faith on December 31, 1971, at a huge Jesus rally
in Pasadena, California. During the following two to three weeks, he spent his
waking hours explaining the gospel to me. By the third week, I had begun to
understand my sinful state and need of a Savior; and because of the work of
God’s Spirit, I called upon Christ as my Savior.
From the
very beginning of our Christian walk, Tony felt called to the gospel ministry. He
attended a small Arminian Bible seminary in Fresno, California for two years. When
he graduated, we went to New York City with another family to start a street
ministry. During this period of time, we began attending a small congregational
church on Long Island whose pastor was reformed. It was through his influence
and teaching that we became reformed. Tony felt that it was important that he
attend seminary and wanted to go to Westminster Theological Seminary in
Philadelphia. We returned to California so that he could attend Southern
California College to first complete his undergraduate work. After two years at
Westminster, Philadelphia, we returned to California because Tony had received
a call to a congregational church in Newport Beach, where he had served as an
associate pastor during his college years. After eight years of serving this
church (during which time he completed his third year at Westminster West), we
joined the OPC and merged with Covenant Community Church where Tony co-pastored
with Greg Bahnsen for three years. He then continued as the sole pastor until
February of 1994 when he became the regional home missionary for the Presbytery
of Southern California.
During
all those years of Tony’s schooling, I remained home with our children. The
Lord blessed us with two more children, Toby and Christy. As our children grew
old enough to attend school, I worked part-time as a dental assistant and at my
children’s school as a P.E. teacher. In 1982 I began my own pursuit of a degree
in elementary education. I graduated in
1990 from California State University at Long Beach and upon graduating began
teaching. For four years I served Grand Avenue Christian School, an evangelical
Methodist elementary school, as its principal. All three of our children were
then in college, and we were then given the opportunity to serve the OPC as
foreign missionaries to Uganda, East Africa.
Our life
in Uganda a wonderful experience—living in East Africa, serving as missionaries
among the Ugandan people. I especially
appreciated learning a whole new culture, and it was a real joy to work with
the brothers and sisters in the Presbyterian Church in Uganda. I had the
privilege of supporting Tony in his church-planting work, teaching Sunday
school, and putting together a basic Sunday school curriculum. I also taught
womens’ studies in the village churches, and helped to start Covenant Primary
School.
The
greatest blessing of our first four years was the opportunity to adopt the Were
children: Douglas, Isaac, and Ivan, three little sons of a dear pastor and
friend, Moses Were. Upon our return to Uganda after a furlough, we moved to
Karamoja, a new tribal group among whom Tony continued his church-planting
work. I worked with the women of Karmoja, but concentrated my efforts towards
being a full-time mom. Over the first
four years in Mbale, and our year of furlough, our three adult children were
married, and we were blessed with our first grandchild. Praise God for His faithfulness!
Since
2004 we have lived in Greenville, South Carolina. Our three adopted sons are now 21, 23, and 25. Douglas has graduated from the University of
South Carolina (Upstate) this past December with a degree in Business
Administration. Isaac is in his third
year at the United States Military Academy.
Ivan is attending Coker College in South Carolina studying Kinesiology,
with the hope of becoming a Physical Therapist.
I
continue to serve as Director of Student Services at Greenville Presbyterian
Theological Semianry, where I have worked since 2004. I am active in our local OPC, Covenant
Community OPC in Taylors, SC.
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