VIDEO: A well-loved woman; a tragic end

Laurie O'Shaughnessy was with her friend Sandra Curtis when the latter met the man who would be her husband, Michael Todd Curtis, on a blind date at a party several years ago. The two hit it off and got married in the summer of 2001 - O'Shaughnessy remembers it well because it was around the time of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

O'Shaughnessy, who is the director of the Canandaigua YMCA, was among the many people who knew and loved Sandra Curtis, and were shocked to learn Wednesday that she had been killed by her estranged husband in an apparent murder-suicide.

Mrs. Curtis had worked for several years as the membership director at the YMCA, and had been its swim coach. Though she had been working since February 2006 as a counselor at Canandaigua Academy's Possibilities Center, some of her closest friends remain at the YMCA. O'Shaughnessy spent part of Wednesday consoling them and calling longtime board members to share the grim news.

<object width="425" height="355">

<param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/m6UrzewbMD8&rel=1" />

<param name="wmode" value="transparent" />width="425" height="355" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/m6UrzewbMD8rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent"></embed></object> "Trying to call each all those people was a little numbing," she said this morning. Mrs. Curtis' friends want her to be remembered not for what took her life, but for what she stood for. "Sandi put her heart into everything that she did, but mostly to help everybody else be happy and get by," said O'Shaughnessy. "I think that's why the school counseling was important to her - her thing was the kids, and getting close to them and helping them through things maybe other people couldn't get to." O'Shaughnessy knew Mrs. Curtis had been estranged from Mr. Curtis, and that she had been living in Farmington while he stayed at their home at 6695 Vincent Hill Road in Bristol. She didn't want to speculate on why Mrs. Curtis was at the home, or what led up to the tragedy. Ontario County Undersheriff David Tillman said the Curtises were going to counseling and trying to work things out. He said she apparently went to the home sometime Wednesday morning. "We know for a fact that she did not spend the night the night before," he said. "It's really unfortunate - for both families, his side of the family and her side of the family. It leaves a lot of pain and sorrow." Ontario County sheriff's deputies said Mr. and Mrs. Curtis were found dead, apparently from gunshot wounds, on a bed in a bedroom of the small one-story gray home. One of Mrs. Curtis' two sisters had gone to the home at around 11 a.m. after worried Canandaigua School District officials called since she did not show up for work that morning. In addition to the Curtises, deputies also found three springer spaniels dead in the home. The dogs' bodies were removed by a worker from the Ontario County Humane Society. A fourth dog was found alive in the home and was taken from the scene in a small pet carrier. Mrs. Curtis, who was 36, grew up in Hamburg, Erie County, and had lived in Las Vegas for a time before she moved to Ontario County at the urging of one of her sisters. "She fell in love with Canandaigua when she came out here," said O'Shaughnessy. Mrs. Curtis was close with both sisters, Sue Chesler and Jenine Wech, who live in the area. Chesler is Mrs. Curtis' twin. Mrs. Curtis sidelined as a photographer, working for her brother-in-law's business, Chesler Photography, in Canandaigua. Neighbors said they knew little about the Curtises. David Davenport, who lives at 6680 Vincent Hill Road, said he could hear Mr. Curtis, who was 45, walking one of the pet dogs every morning and night, but he only ever had brief conversations with him. Davenport said the Curtises are among only a few people in the rural neighborhood who aren't related to one another. Another neighbor, Melvin Stebbins, said Mr. Curtis generally kept to himself. Brandon Bomeline, who lives next door to the Curtis residence, said his wife heard two shots at about 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, when she was putting their children on the bus. "But it's Bristol - you hear (shots) 24 hours here," he said, referring to the hunters in the area. "He always seemed like a nice guy," said Bomeline of Mr. Curtis. "It's just a neighbor you don't really know." The Curtises' home is on a hilltop on the winding dirt road, and is surrounded by pine trees. Bomeline said Mr. Curtis sometimes mowed the lawn of a cancer patient who lived down the road, and he also remembered him walking the dogs and training them in his backyard. Dog crates were in the back of two gray Chrysler SUVs at the scene inspected by the police. The backyard of the home also has a large fenced with dog houses. An Ontario County coroner was at the scene at about 1:50 p.m., and deputies were seen removing brown paper bags full of evidence from the home. They also took photographs inside two large silver sports utility vehicles parked in the driveway. Members of the Ontario County Advanced Life Support unit were also at the scene but left at about 1:20 p.m. The sheriff's office had several patrol cars at the scene as well as its Emergency Services Unit camper. The investigation into the deaths continues. The property was surrounded by police tape until about 4 p.m. Wednesday, just after the bodies were removed from the home and taken to the Monroe County Medical Examiner's Office for autopsies. O'Shaughnessy said she is working to console those at the YMCA who knew Mrs. Curtis. Likewise, officials at the Canandaigua City School District, have activated a crisis team to help grief-stricken staffers and students. "Obviously, we're shaken up, and we're trying to help out everybody," said district spokesman Andy Thomas. Before starting at the Possibilities Center full time, Mrs. Curtis had interned there for about two years while she was attending the University of Rochester, Thomas said. Thomas said Mrs. Curtis was well-liked at the center, which has about 10 to 15 enrolled high schoolers who are considered at risk for developmental or emotional troubles. "Her job was to develop really strong relationships with these kids," said Thomas, noting that the high school's crisis team met with staffers after dismissal Wednesday to share the grim news. Students were also notified, "with the utmost sensitivity." "We're going to be as caring and as careful as we can with these kids," he said. "There are many, many young people in our community who will remember her fondly." <em>Messenger Post reporter Hilary Smith contributed to this report. Jessica Pierce and Stephanie Bergeron can be reached at (585) 394-0770 or at jpierce@mpnewspapers.com or sbergeron@mpnewspapers.com.