We know that we have passed from death to life because we love one another….And this is His commandment, that we should believe in the name of His son Jesus Christ and love one another….All who obey his commandments abide in Him, and He abides in them. 1 John 3:14, 23-24
Curtiss R. Cathey, Sr. was born in Brandon, Mississippi into a family that had high regard for positive values. Those values led him to esteem education. As a result, in 1962, Curtiss earned a B.S. degree in mathematics from Tougaloo College and a M.S. degree in mathematics from Brown University in 1968. He was made by the Rho Epsilon chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Incorporated on April 15, 1961, while a student at Tougaloo College.
Upon returning to Mississippi after graduate school, he became a math educator in the public school system. With a growing family, he left the education field and started working in the retail industry in 1971. The same values that helped him succeed at an Ivy League university assisted him in moving through the ranks at Sears. He worked there for 22 years up until his retirement in 1993. He started as a salesperson then was quickly promoted to a division manager and then to a manager over four divisions. During his time there, he won sales manager of the year in 1986 and division manager/sales manager of the month several times. After retiring from Sears, he easily returned to his first love—education. Altogether, he worked as a math educator for 22 years. A year after his retirement from teaching in 2006, he agreed to act as the Education Coordinator for the Office of the District Attorney for two years. In his second retirement, at the behest of school administrators, he continued part-time as a math instructor for GED students and as a math tutor at the local public high school.
The positive values Curtiss’ parents bestowed upon him and his two siblings also emphasized giving back to the community. Thus, he has been very active in his local chapter of Omega Psi Phi, the Phi Rho chapter, and in his community of Hattiesburg, Mississippi. In 1977, as a member of Phi Rho, Curtiss was a Keeper of Record and Seal, the Dean of Pledges in 1979, and Basileus from 1982 to 1987. And, over the course of his 50+ years as an Omega, he has attended the Grand Conclave several times.
As a young father, in his community, he was a Boy Scout Master for four years. And he was a founding member of the Hub City Business and Professional Men’s Club in the mid 1970s. A membership he always retained. At Sears, he consistently acted as a Red Cross fundraising volunteer. Then, while teaching at the high school, he agreed to be the Key Club sponsor for six years and was a member of the State Textbook Adoption Committee. He was also board member of the year in 1986 while a member of the Pine Belt Boys & Girls Club. Additionally, Curtiss was a very active member in his church, Sweet Pilgrim Baptist Church. He became a church trustee board member in 1989. From 1991 to 2001, he was the Sunday school superintendent. And, since 1998, he was the church’s financial secretary and vice president of the trustee board. The importance he placed on both education and community service is also noted by his very active engagement in Hattiesburg’s Tougaloo College Alumni Association and his lifetime membership in both the Mississippi Association of Educators and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
But with all of his accomplishments, Curtiss’ most beloved accomplishment was being the best father and grandfather. In that endeavor, he is without compare.
Curtiss leaves a legacy of love, care, sacrifice, loyalty, and responsibility in his community and among his friends and his family. He is an example to us all.


Curtiss is survived by his children, Curtiss Cathey, Jr. and Deon Cathey; his wife, Bea Cathey; his brother, Clark Cathey, his sister, Miriam Williams, his mother Ada Proctor Cathey; his grandsons: Colton Cathey and Stephen Austin, and several nieces, nephews and other relatives, along with his friends and church family. Curtiss was preceded in death by his father, Emanuel Cathey, his brother, Nathaniel Cathey, and his brothers-in-law, Thornell Williams, Sr. and Willie Taylor.

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