Theodore Curtis was born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah, and graduated from the University of Utah. He then taught at Granite High School before enlisting for military service in 1933. An active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), he was commissioned a U.S. Army chaplain and served for five years with the 28th Infantry Regiment at Fort Douglas, then with the 115th Engineer Combat Regiment, and as chaplain for the 25th Infantry Division Artillery in Hawaii. He first saw combat with the 40th Infantry Division at Guadalcanal, then New Britain, and finally in the Philippine Islands campaign, where he helped liberate the San Tomas Concentration Camp. Following his war service he remained in the military, serving in Japan, Europe, and retired at the Presidio of San Francisco as a U.S. Army colonel. After retiring he served in the Berkeley High Council and was also a patriarch of the San Jose West Stake and was patriarch at the Santa Clara Stake when he died in 1983.