August 13, 1968 - April 24, 2020
It is with our deepest sorrow that we inform you of the death of our beloved son, Theodore Alexander Curylo U.E. Alex was born in Chilliwack, British Columbia on August 13, 1968. Fifty-one years later, on April 24, 2020, in Bangkok Thailand Alex died of an unexpected heart failure.
His funeral was held at the Aphai Thayaram (Wat Makok) Temple in Bangkok. Internment is planned for August 3, 2020 at Wat Pa Pracha Nimit, Samrong District, Ubonratchathani Province, Thailand.
Alex had become a World Citizen travelling to more than 200 countries and territories and visiting over 960 UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Through his Every World Heritage Site blog (everywhs.com) he inspired his tens of thousands of followers to engage in the UNESCO mandate of "Building peace in the minds of men and women".
Chilliwack was the village that raised the child known as "Teddy". Baptized at Saint Mary's Roman Catholic Church, he together with his younger brother, Danny, was raised by his parents on the family farm in the close-knit community of Bailey Road. Teddy's father is of Polish decent. Teddy's grandparents lived next door and his Witek great grandparents and Uncle down the road.
The Curylo and Witek ancestors immigrated to Canada in 1929 and 1930. Polish culture was celebrated on festive occasions at the home of his grandparents, Joseph and Rosalia Curylo, when the extended family, his aunt, Valerie Stevens, and aunt and uncle, Helen and Jim Shelford, would arrive, and of paramount importance was the arrival of the three Shelford cousins, Tim, Jeremy and Mark.
Teddy's mother (Rose Marie Curylo nee Sutherland) is of Scottish and United Empire Loyalist descent. Her Loyalist ancestor, Harmanus House (himself a descendent of Palatine Germans who were sponsored to America in 1710 by Queen Anne of Great Britain) arrived in Canada in 1783 at the conclusion of the RevolutionaryWar in which he had fought as a Butler's Ranger. Teddy received his UE (Unity of the Empire) designation, Canada's only hereditary honour, in 1982 courtesy of genealogical research by his maternal grandmother, Marion Sutherland U.E.
During Teddy's childhood, travel was the norm and even though he visited the Sistine Chapel and climbed Mount Vesuvius, played at Legoland and studied the Maya culture at UBC before a trip to the Yucatan Peninsula, it was the frequent trips made to Ontario to visit his Sutherland and Parsons relatives that were most important. As he grew older the visits to Eastern Canada and the U.S.were to attend weddings of his cousins - both Curylo and Sutherland. His family was forever meaningful to Alex.
At 9 years of age, farm children can become active in 4-H. Teddy was a member of the Chilliwack 4-H Holstein Club, 4-H Beef Club, and 4-H Swine Club exhibiting his Holstein dairy calf, Chianina beef calf and Yorkshire pigs at the Chilliwack Fall Fair and the Pacific National Exhibition in Vancouver. Teddy hosted the popular 4-H in Action TV show, and he wrote the 4-H column Clover Power for the Chilliwack Progress newspaper. Progress Editor Jim Robertson entrusted Teddy with a special writing assignment and that was to attend the Telidon Conference with Progress writer, Ron Gray. Their articles about this new emerging technology were published in the Progress.
In April 2020 Jonathon Gatehouse, CBC Investigative Journalist writing for the National Today newsletter under the title "Today in history" asked: "How long ago was 1981?" His answer "Sufficiently distant that a kid liking computers was big news. Farm boy Ted Curylo took a 6 a.m. bus from Chilliwack to attend a Vancouver conference on those funny new machines." The Chilliwack Progress recorded the beginning of Teddy's remarkable writing skills and his fascination with computers that were to become his career.
Alex graduated from SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, and experienced a rewarding career working with skilled and talented Apple software engineers and systems analysts. He began his career in his hometown of Vancouver, BC and in his final years working for Agoda.com in Bangkok, Thailand. He authored the computer blog Under the Bridge and on behalf of Agoda addressed the Mobile Development Conference in Moscow, Russia as a keynote speaker.
Alex's uncle, John Parsons, a writer and world traveler himself, said "Alex was indeed talented in 'Bespoke iOS Development and Performance Artistry' as noted in Trollwerks, however, his passion was world travel."
In 1985-86 his grade 12 at WEST ISLAND COLLEGE was aboard the 154-foot Polish barquentine tall ship Pogoria visiting 24 countries in Europe, Africa and the Americas. At the request of Barry Blackhurst of WEST ISLAND COLLEGE, Alex wrote the Chronicles of Class Afloat for Encyclopedia Britannia, reporting monthly to Andre Owen, Vice-President. After this sailing experience, diving became a focus for Alex. He became certified to join the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) a recreational diving membership and diver training organization.
In February 2020 Alex married Kobkaew Patsit at the Trang UnderwaterWedding Festival in Thailand. Always a resounding success, this international event has captured the imagination of the world. It is the Trang Chamber of Commerce who promotes the authentic Thai wedding traditions while being in an extraordinary environment on the shores of the Andaman Sea.
In 1988 Alex enrolled in the EASTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY European Cultural History Tour and visited 18 countries in Europe, Asia and Africa. In Poland he visited Auschwitz II-Birkenau Nazi concentration camp to pay his respects to his Great-Uncle (Grandfather's brother) Emil Curylo who lost his life there in 1942.
Alex defined his life by inspiring a love of learning everywhere hewent.His attention to travel evolved to visiting UNESCOWorld Heritage Sites and then writing about his adventures. When Alex volunteered at the Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda in Chengdu, China, he surprised their staff when he actually knew how to feed bamboo to a panda and clean its pen. When Alex and Kobkaew went on a trek through the forest floor of the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia they helped feed the wild kangaroos at Bunya Mountains National Park. From the Megalithic Temples of Malta to the historic monuments and sites in Kaesong, North Korea, Alex brought the history, the culture and the geography of the world to his readers. Many wrote about how they lived vicariously through his travels. In February 2020, Alex was recognized as a social influencer by the Tourism Authority of Thailand for his creative imagination in writing about and promoting Thailand as a tourist destination.
Alex will be deeply missed and forever cherished by his loving family; wife Kobkaew Patsit in Bangkok, Thailand, parents Ed and Rose Marie Curylo, Surrey, BC, brother Daniel Curylo, Whistler, BC, niece Alima Curylo, Bellingham, WA, and nephew Gemedi Curylo, Vancouver, BC.
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