Curtis D. Chase

Be an expert in something. Know a little about a lot. And if you want to gut and rebuild an entire apartment but have no idea where to start, sign out a library book and get to work. Anyone who can read and follow pictures can channel their inner Bob Vila.

Those were just some of the tenants of Curtis DeWitt Chase, who entered this world April 27, 1944, and entered his eternal life April 25, 2014. (And to save you from doing big math in your head—something at which he excelled—the was two days shy of his 70th.)

“Curt” (which was how most knew him) was a 1962 graduate of Dartmouth High School where he was an accomplished runner at local and state levels. He earned an associates degree in golf course management from University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and after a stint at Texas Tech and a few years of California dreamin’, his passion for New England U-turned him to Massachusetts where he enjoyed careers in real estate as a general contractor, land developer and sales agent; as owner of Emerald Park Golf Course in Dartmouth, Mass.; and later—at a post for which he headed back to school at 60—as a job fulfillment specialist at the New Bedford Career Center.

In work, little satisfied Curt more than guiding people toward the perfect home or job. At home, family time made life complete. Saturday hot-dogs-and-beans dinners at his mother’s. Sunday drives with his wife and daughters. Vacation hikes and rounds of precious golf with his best friends. All with a backdrop of as much Italian food as his happy stomach could hold…often made by his own hand.

Born in Fall River (“but rushed straight to Dartmouth,” so his story goes), Curt passed from the bed in his Acushnet home earlier than hoped. But he leaves plenty of life lessons and inside-baseball laughs we’ll treasure until we see him next:

• When dealing with pipes or wires, scrap the “get a book” rule and call a plumber or an electrician for help. Your inexperienced mistakes will cost more than their invoice.

• If a child asks how to spell a word, never, ever tell them. Make them look it up in an honest-to-goodness dictionary. If they whine about your meanness, they’ll at least learn a thing or two by reading the entries around whatever they’re hunting for.

• Closing your eyes while savoring dessert is a cook’s best compliment.

• If a call interrupts your pitch to a bank for funding for a new development, take it. “Clients” who call to hire you for new business, in front of prospective clients, make you seem way more accomplished than your 28 years…even if the “client” calling really your 76-year-old mother. (Genius.)

• If a dog on your dark neighborhood street doesn’t answer to “Ginger,” no matter how much it looks like “our Ginger,” don’t bring him home. (And if you did, and the dog is in fact a “him,” take him back where you found him. Your Ginger’s a girl. That Ginger was just out for a stroll.)

• Reading a map is a life necessity.

• Take risks. Loss is crushing, but risking is worth it.

• It’s totally okay to wrap your spouse’s Christmas presents in dishtowels when you can’t find proper wrapping paper. Honest.

• Send your daughters roses on their 10th, 13th, 16th, 18th, and 21st birthdays. They’ll remember you were the first man to care from them that deeply.

• Find hobbies that you and your spouse love to do together. From working on houses to watching Monk, “togetherness” sets an example for how quiet, everyday love outlasts sparks, bells and whistles.

Curt’s most rarified breaths were taken on a golf course, whether he was running it, playing it or as a spectator. His spirit will live on through his wife, Heidi, and his two- and four-legged “children”: Jennifer, Erin, Chris, Blu and Eli; sibling Fred Chase and his wife, Ann; beloved brother-in-law and father figure Elliot Whitney; numerous nieces and nephews; and countless friends and colleagues made and long kept through his life in and around his Dartmouth, Mass., community.

Curt is now reunited with his “Mama,” Viola (Hoyt) Chase, and his “Daddy,” Earle F. Chase Sr., and is predeceased by three sisters: Helen, Gail and Barbie.

Donations in Curt’s memory may be made to daughter Erin’s adult day care program:

Community Connections, Inc., 10 David Drown Blvd., Fairhaven, MA 02719, 508.990.8194, www.communityconnectionsinc.org