City of Stephens – Jesse Curry was apparently everywhere in the community: singing in church, volunteering for non -profit organizations, cleaning a historic cemetery. But if there is one thing for which the resident of the city of Stephens of all life will remain in the memories, it is his kitchen.
“He was so known for his kitchen in Winchester that the week before Thanksgiving and the week before Christmas, he closed his restaurant because he had so many orders,” said Jackie Cain, the Grand-Nièce de Curry and a Middletown resident.
Asked what was his best dish, Cain replied, “Can I say everything?” I mean, there was nothing that he couldn’t cook. ”
Curry died in his sleep on March 12 at the Evergreen Health and Rehab Center in Winchester. He was 96 years old.
Although many of his relatives died in front of him and that he had no children, Curry leaves behind a community of friends and family who will miss a lot and will remember him with emotion.
“We will miss, but he has lived a life worthy of many people who remember him,” said Audrey Jackson, the niece of Curry who grew up in Stephens City and now lives in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Cooking
Curry owned two Winchester restaurants in his time: the famous rustic tavern on Cork Street from 1972 to 1991 and later Jesse’s place on North Loudoun Street. In addition, he headed his own catering business, which was also very popular.
The previous items of the Winchester star recall long lines of guests eager who are waiting to sneak in the rustic tavern, which is not 12 years old at its lunch counter, for a taste of the legendary curry crab cakes, pork net and the squash pan in Curry.
“The life he had touched with this food … It was simply incredible,” said Jackson.
For the holidays, people commanded turkeys, country ham, dinner rolls and sauce that was “just to die” – and they should order it for weeks in advance before Curry is reserved, according to Cain. He also responded to the events of many large companies in Winchester, she added, listing Rubbermaid, Capitol Records and Shockey as some examples.
Curry has won recognition and various prices for its cooking capacities. One of its prices came from an event at the counter closed in 2019 to the plantation of Belle Grove near Middletown celebrating the “soul chiefs and the African-American chiefs of the valley”.
Before operating his own business, Curry has helped many Winchester restaurants in the kitchens for a long time. He started at the Apple Blossom restaurant on Braddock Street in front of Rouss Fire Hall, then went to the closed but stifling dinner triangle on Gerrard Street.
Cain – Who grew up in Stephens City’s house in Curry – remembers that Curry was still in the stove. She obtained one of her culinary skills on her part.
“He worked in Winchester with a rustic tavern and he cooked all day,” recalls Cain. “And we would sit there waiting for him to come home, and he would probably end up preparing a meal of three or four dishes every day. Every day. It was not food he had brought from the restaurant. He came and cooked.”
A smile in her voice, she said that Curry was “the type of person who could go to the cupboards of anyone … and he could prepare a meal of three or four dishes with what you have in the kitchen.”
Culinary excellence is in a way a family tradition in the Curry family, said Cain and Jackson. Some of Curry’s five brothers were in the army and worked in the kitchens, and his mother could also prepare a solid meal.
But during family meetings, Curry’s food was “famous”, according to Denise Medley, whose father, Richard Louis Medley, was the cousin of Curry.
In addition to cooking savory meals, “he was also a baker,” said Cain. “He could just go to the kitchen, and that was everything from scratch, you know? And he could just whip a cake like that.”
Jackson said some of his grandchildren still remembered the Curry fishing shoemaker. And Medley noted that his apple cake was particularly exceptional.
His recipes, although wonderful, were not often written, according to Cain. She asked him to recite recipes when he aged, offering to help them record them, but – a real chef – Curry mainly followed his intuition when he cooked. A little more of that, a little more, and a dish was complete.
An article dated January 9, 1977 of Winchester’s evening star documents three of the curry recipes: Creole and rice dut, broccoli pan and apple butter pie. The article indicates that it took “a lot of encouragement” for Curry to agree to submit its sought after recipes. For those interested, the three were published once again on Winchesterstar.com and in today’s newspaper.
Volunteering
The career cuisine finally turned into a volunteer kitchen for Curry, when it remained behind the stove as long as possible.
“He would do everything for anyone and did not expect anything,” said Cain, who was Curry’s goalkeeper when he aged. “It was the kindness of his heart.”
He volunteered for the Community Action Project of the Winchester Congregation, known as CCAP, as well as for the Kiwanis Club, the local churches, the senior centers of Winchester and Stephens City and the historically African-American Cemetery Locust Grove in Stephens City. In many of these places, he has found his way to the kitchen.
At the Methodist John Mann church in Winchester, Curry was the oldest member. He sang in the choir and he liked to sing, said Cain. He also inaugurated, cooked for events and was president of the United Methodist Ministry, according to his Bill.
“He was a leader in the church in which he was,” said Jackson. “People come to join churches and be somehow benches, we call them. But not the Jesse uncle. He was someone who wanted to be at the service. ”
At the orrick chapel of Stephens City, an historic African-American methodist church which predates the end of slavery, Curry was deeply involved. He was an active member there before closing in 1991 when he merged with the United Methodist Church of Stephens City, according to Medley.
“Everything that had to do with the help and give it back – it was his way,” said Cain.
Curry devoted his life to her mother, known as Mama Liz, taking care of her until her death in the 1970s, according to Cain. Cain said that she could not emphasize enough how Curry was a devoted son.
While the members of the Curry family have talked a lot about their cooking skills and its renowned volunteer spirit, they also stressed something else: their personality. There was often a smile on his face, even in the last years of his life. He was out, kind, happy, hospital and generous.
“And his laughter,” said Jackson. “His smile when we went to see him in the nursing home, his face would light up. He would light up. … It was so beautiful to see that he was such a joyful person.”
The Curry family will receive friends on Saturday March 22 at the Jones funeral home at 228 S. Pleasant Valley Road in Winchester from noon to 1 p.m., the funeral will be held at 1 p.m. with the Reverend Kevin Jackson officiant.
Burial will follow at the Locust Grove cemetery at 5300, rue Grove in Stephens City.
– Contact tabitha reeves at treeves@winchesterstar.com
