|  Biography
The
Early Years
William Ames Curtright was born to Elaine Ames Curtright and George
Curtright. Elaine Ames is the daughter of Lewis William Ames, a
descendent of the famous Old Oliver Ames, founder of Ames Tool Company
of Easton Massachusetts. The young William Ames Curtright spent
his youth in Portland, Oregon, where he attended Benson Polytechnic
Institute, majoring in Electronics with special training in Engineering
Drafting. Ames graduated from Benson Polytechnic in 1962.
Military
Service
In 1960, Ames Curtright joined the Naval Reserves while still attending
high school and was trained in naval aviation electronics. As a
reserve, Ames flew aircrew while being stationed at Naval Air Station
Seattle (Standpoint). In September 1962, Ames entered into active
duty and served aboard the USS Ticonderoga CVA 14 in the Seventh
Fleet out of San Diego, California. He served as part of a 60-ship
task force of five carriers and saw action in the Gulf of Tonkin
incident in 1964. He was honorably discharged in 1966.
Education
Following his military service, Ames Curtright enrolled in El Camino
College in Torrance, California where he majored in electrical engineering.
In 1967, Ames enrolled in a General Studies program at Portland
State College. In 1968, Ames transferred to the University of Oregon,
majoring in Clinical Psychology. At the same time, Ames was taking
courses in Pastoral Counseling from Northwest Christian College.
As
Ames’ interests turned toward the sciences, he enrolled and
attended George Fox College in Newberg, Oregon. In 1971, Ames graduated
from George Fox with a Bachelor of Science degree in Pre-Medicine,
with a major in Clinical Psychology and minors in Biology and Chemistry.
Ames then worked two years undergraduate and post graduation on
research related to the Electrical Stimulation of the Brain. He
was taught surgical procedures by Dr. Brenda Lonsbury (Pioneer of
the Cochlear implant) at the OHSU Medical School. With her he learned
and performed surgical procedures for electrode implantation in
cats using Stereotaxic instrumentation. He was able to demonstrate
how to stimulate behavior in cats such as rage, sleep and pleasure,
thus identifying that some abnormal human behavior might be explained
by brain damage from drug or chemical abuse or physical trauma.
Ames
later attended graduate school at the Oregon College of Education,
emphasizing Earth sciences, including Geology Physics, Math and
Earth Science and Education. He then received his teaching certificate
in Idaho where he spent the 1973-74 school year teaching Math, Science
and Physics at Greenleaf Friends Academy in Greenleaf, Idaho. During
that time he also taught flying to the students..
From
1974 through 1976, Ames returned to medical study at Western States
College Chiropractic College, however he ultimately decided that
medicine was not for him and entered the construction field until
1981 to pay off his college debts. In 2002, he received his Doctor
of Business Administration from Rivier College, in New Hampshire.
Inventor
and Industrialist
In 1981, while recuperating from a diving accident, Ames developed
and formulated a new type of non-toxic roof coatings system that
stretches and reflects light and heat. Snow Roof Systems products
were first advertised for and applied to tar roofs to save them.
As the products evolved he invented other things. Ames employed
70 people, and with approximately 160 sales representatives and
11 distribution centers his company’s products were merchandised
in 15,000 stores throughout the United States.
Ames
also created Ames Research Laboratories, where he designed moving
map technology primarily for aircraft navigation. He holds five
patents on this technology. Today, in addition to his business duties
as President and CEO of Ames Research Laboratories, Ames is active
in charities, investments and flying. Both he and his wife Dama
live on their 530 acre ranch in Turner, Oregon where they raise
horses.
W.
C. Ames comes from a family with heritage and service to America.
“My friends call me Ames. My heritage is from the famous Ames
Family of Easton, Massachusetts. My family history contains a parade
of public servants who are somewhat famous, such as: U.S. Representative
Oakes Ames, the builder of the Union Pacific Railroad in the 1860’s,
and his son Massachusetts Governor Oliver Ames; and his brother
Oliver Ames, the builder of the Ames Tool Company, which helped
finance the Union Pacific. Ames is the oldest continuous operating
company in the United States.”
“I
have been raised my whole life in Oregon and that heritage of public
service seems to never leave me. I am a Republican.” Another
Republican, Abraham Lincoln, saw that in Representative Oakes Ames
when he
“took
Ames into his confidence: ‘Ames, you take hold of this,’
the president told him. ‘The road must be built, and you are
the man to do it. Take hold of it yourself. By building the Union
Pacific, you will be the remembered man of your generation.”
www.pbs.org
“I remember Tom McCall answering the Capitol phone on the
weekends. Like Governor McCall, I will be a Governor who will talk
to you and be there to help you. I will be a Governor who cares
and listens, and I will help those who are in need. My whole person
revolves around the importance of our Constitution and to service
to the people of Oregon. I believe in telling it as it is!! Straight
and with No Bull!”
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