VICKERS: Curtis Park was more than just a neighbourhood

Former base's housing quarters have long served as a hub of community activities

Most of the former CFB Chatham Curtis Park neighbourhood is now part of the Retirement Miramichi rental community. (FREE PRESS PHOTO)

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Curtis Park began as a simple collection of homes within RCAF Station Chatham and later CFB Chatham, a place where military families settled in the midst of an ever-changing world.

From the late 1950s through to the 1990s, it was more than just a neighbourhood — it was a community where children played until the streetlights flickered on, where friendships were forged, and where the sound of the Sabre and Voodoo jet engines was both a source of excitement and a constant reminder of duty.

The streets of Curtis Park were lined with modest, functional homes known as PMQs, or private married quarters. They were practical and temporary for the thousands of residents who would reside in the park over the years.

The families who lived in these houses understood the transient nature of military life, the postings and transfers that dictated when it was time to say goodbye and start over somewhere new. However long they stayed, Curtis Park was their world, a snapshot of memory that former base residents around the world carry to this day.