Airline baggage fees have not changed Derry Jeanette McCurdy’s travel habits. “I travel pretty heavy,” the diversity manager in civilian personnel at Wright-Patterson Air For Base said with a smile. “It’s two of three suitcases.”
With their children grown, the Dayton native and her sister Barbara Frost embraced the travel bug a decade ago. They’ve taken several cruisers and other trips, including excursions to St. Thomas, the Bahamas and Brazil for Carnival.
All that traveling has required lots of wardrobe changes.
“I am probably more of a jacket person. You can mix and match and get more outfits when you travel,” the 65-year-old said. “I like small boutiques. Whenever my sister and I travel we stop at small boutiques.”
One of five children, McCurdy says her mother pulled her first name out of a newspaper.
She learned to appreciate proper attire from her mother and grandparents.
“Etiquette was a big thing to my mother. My sister and I always look at the table clothes, linen and the silver when we travel,” she said.
All of that is not to say McCurdy is stuffy.
McCurdy said occasionally dressed up her hospital scrubs with pearls when she worked as a radiologist at St. Elizabeth Hospital.
“My attire is ecentric, professional and semi casual,” she said.
McCurdy worked 30 years at the Dayton Veteran Medical Center before transferring to Wright-Patterson in 2001.
It was at the base that she picked up a passion for quilting with the help of coworkers.
She’s been using one of her first quilting projects to tell the story of the Underground Railroad five years. As she explains during her historical presentations, quilted squares were used to convey messages to slaves attempting to escape to the north.
McCurdy’s family has had its own impact on history.
Her great grandfather was the first chaplain at the historic Tuskegee Institute and her mother did laundry for George Washington Carver to pay her way through nursing school.
McCurdy love of craft doesn’t stop with quilting.
She operates a small business she’s named after her eldest grandchild.
Through Derrion’s Creations she makes floral arrangements, scrapbooks and other crafts.
“That’s been my biggest passion,” she said.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2384 or arobinson@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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Nominate yourself or a friend for Miami Valley Style. Contact staff writer Amelia Robinson at (937) 225-2384 or arobinson@ DaytonDailyNews.com.
Fashion Q & A with Derry J. McCurdy
Q What is your favorite online merchant?
A QVC and HSN.
Q What fashion trend do you hate most?
A Too casual work dress in the workplace.
Q What is your favorite local shopping destination?
A Cato, TJ Maxx, Marshalls.
Q What is your favorite out of town shopping destination?
A Birmingham, Ala.; St. Thomas, Virgin Islands.
Q What is your favorite fashion decade?
The Roaring ’20s and ’30s because of the fashion trends at the time.
Q What is your ideal bag?
A Kathy Van Zeeland.
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