Curtis L. Balduf

Curtis L. Balduf, 87, a resident of Walpole since 1955, died June 24th at the Maples Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Wrentham, Mass. He was preceded in death by Ethel A. (Johnson) Balduf, his wife of 51 years, and by his parents, Curtis I. Balduf and Elsa M. (Berglund) Balduf. He is survived by his sons, Carl J. Balduf and wife Joanne Balduf of Plainville, Mass., and Donald C. Balduf of Oakwood, Ohio; grandchildren Eric Balduf and Olivia Balduf of Plainville, Anna Brissman of Fort Worth, Texas, and Maria Balduf of Grapevine, Texas; and by a great grandson, Alexander Brissman of Fort Worth.

Mr. Balduf was born Oct. 30, 1924, in Norwood, Mass. He was known to family and childhood friends as Leon, his middle name, and to those he met later as Curt or Curtis. He answered to both names all of his life.

He grew up on Phillips Avenue in Norwood and graduated from Norwood High School with the class of 1942. He attended Northeastern University, then trained in the graphic arts. During service in the U.S. Army from 1948-49, he taught graphic arts at Fort Myer and Fort Belvoir in Virginia. He worked for 30 years as a pressman at Plimpton Press in Norwood, then for Addressograph-Multigraph Corp., mostly at the Polaroid Corp. plant in Norwood. He retired from A-M Corp. in 1991.

In his early years Mr. Balduf attended the Congregational Church in Norwood, where he made many lifelong friends. After his marriage to Ethel A. Johnson in 1955, the couple attended Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Norwood and resided in Walpole for the rest of their lives.

Mr. Balduf was an active member of Emmanuel Lutheran Church,  the Order of Runeberg lodge 211 in Norwood,  the Orient  Masonic lodge of Norwood,  and of the National Rifle Association, where he was a life member. He was proud of his German heritage through his father’s family, which emigrated to the United States from the Black Forest region of Germany, and of his mother’s birth and Swedish ancestry in Finland’s Aland Islands in the Baltic Sea.

In the 1960s and 1970s Mr. Balduf served the Walpole Police Department as an auxiliary police officer. He also served as cubmaster for Walpole’s Cub Scout Pack 34 in the mid-1960s.   Mr. Balduf also enjoyed flying as a younger man having obtained a  pilot’s license in the mid 1940’s.

Mr. Balduf was an enthusiastic participant in the shooting sports, first for the Norwood Rifle Club, then for many years in rifle and pistol with the Sharon Fish and Game Club in the South Shore League. For more than three decades Mr. Balduf was an important member of Sharon pistol teams that won many South Shore League titles. In 1954-55, a championship season for Sharon, Mr. Balduf was the first in the league to shoot in the 290s in the league’s 300-point course when he fired a 291, the best individual score in the league that season. He was runner-up for state pistol champion in the same era.  At the time of his death, Mr. Balduf was the senior member of the Sharon Fish and Game Club.

Mr. Balduf also competed for many years in the New England Police Revolver League, where he was very proud of scores that consistently placed him in the top rank. As a rifle shooter, he probably was proudest of finishing first in battalion competition at the conclusion of Army basic training. His long competitive career included many other league, team and individual honors.

Calling hours will be on Friday from 4 to 8 p.m. in the May Funeral Home, 85 Nichols Street, Norwood.   His funeral will take place at Emmanuel Lutheran Church, 24 Berwick Street, Norwood on Saturday June 30 ^th at 10 in the morning.  Burial will be private at a later date in Highland Cemetery in Norwood. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in his memory to the American Cancer Society, 30 Speen Street, Framingham, MA 01701, or to Emmanuel Lutheran Church, 24 Berwick Street, Norwood, MA 02062, or the charity of your choice.