Mary Jo Curwen passed away at home in Palos Verdes Peninsula, CA on January 26, 2023, from Covid complications. Mary Jo enjoyed her close-knit family, her many friends, a rewarding legal career, helping others (12-step programs and community support groups), cats and stuffed animals. She was kind, loving, considerate, and a friend to all she met. She traveled to many lands and sailed on many cruises. During and after successful breast cancer treatments, she kept on traveling.

Born 80 years ago in Cuba City, WI on July 22, 1942, to C. W. "Bill" Curwen and Theda Hillary Curwen, she grew up on the family farm in Buncombe, WI with 4 younger siblings. Mary Jo attended Buncombe School (a rural one-room schoolhouse) through eighth grade and then Benton High School where she graduated valedictorian and earned a National Merit Scholarship. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, she worked in Connecticut, then California. She attended UCLA Law School on a scholarship where she was 1 of only 30 women in her class of 300. While working at the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office, she met a fellow lawyer, Colin Wing Chiu. They were married on January 1, 1980, at the Wayfarer's Chapel in Rancho Palos Verdes, CA. Mary Jo always encouraged her 2 daughters' interests (horses, ice skating, pageants) and was a loving Nana to her 2 grandsons.

Mary Jo is survived by her husband Colin Chiu; daughter Tiffany Joelle Chiu (Paul Kuhr); daughter Nicole Hillary Chiu-Wang (Donnie Wang and sons Donovan and Beckett); siblings Randy Curwen, Connie Hay, and Christie Curwen; in-laws, uncle, nieces, nephews and cousins. Her parents Theda and Bill Curwen and sister Ceanne Curwen Peckham preceded her in death.

 In lieu of flowers, consider a donation in Mary Jo’s memory to your favorite charity.

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