Driver Dies In Collision With Engine

John Thomas Curtis, 59, of Dallas, was killed late Tuesday when his gravel truck was smashed by a switch engine as he followed his son's truck through a railroad crossing.
Curtis, father of eight and a gravel truck driver twenty-two years, was the tenth traffic fatality in Dallas County this year, He loved at 5507 Gregg.
The son, James Thomas Curtis, 30, of 710 Packard was driving another gravel truck just ahead of him.
When I came to the crossing, the train was bout 250 feet to my right. The flagman gave me the highball to come on through. He must have turned his head and signaled for the train to come on without noticing Dad was behind me. Dad probably thought he could get across because I did," said the younger Curtis.
The men were driving south on a section of Belt Line Road which is under construction. They were carrying loads of dirt from a nearby pit to the Chance Vought Aircraft plant.
Both drove for Vilbig Construction Company.
The locomotive, heading east towards Dallas was operated by Gifford-Hill & Company to switch cars around the firm's gravel pits in the area.
His survivors include his wife; another son, Wayne Curtis, the youngest child; six daughters, Miss Dorothy Curtis, Mrs. Annie Walker and Drs. Doris Meeks, all three of Dallas; Mrs. Bobbie Cline of Irving, Mrs. Tinney Cline of Grapevine and Mrs. Louis Davis of Oakland, Calif.; his father, C. W. Curtis of Dallas; a brother, Ed Curtis of Dallas, and two sisters, Mrs. Minnie Hill of Richardson and Mrs. Zelma Hill of Farmers Branch.

The Dallas Morning News - February 25, 1954
Submitted by Edward Lynn Williams

J. T. Curtis Rites To Be Thursday

Funeral services for John Thomas Curtis, 59, of 5507 Gregg, a general truck driver for twenty-two years, will be held at 2:30 p.m. Thursday in the Marrs-Mundy-Quill Funeral Chapel, 3000 Maple.
The Rev. O. K. Stevenson and the Rev. S> W. Oats will be in charge. Burial will be in the Farmers Branch Cemetery.
Curtis was killed when his gravel truck was smashed by a switch engine at a railroad crossing.

The Dallas Morning News - February 25, 1954
Submitted by Edward Lynn Williams