The history of the Mike Curb Family in Texas is amazing. It starts in the 1860s with two great grandfathers in Texas. Mike’s paternal great grandfather Aaron Monroe Curb lived in Bell County Texas after he fought in the civil war and was the only member of his unit to return home alive. Mike’s maternal great grandfather Rafael Salazar was an entrepreneur who believed in education, and he moved his family from Mexico to Texas in the 1800s to start a dry goods store on the Texas Mexico border. Rafael and his wife Francisca had six daughters, although unfortunately Rafael and three of his daughters died during the pandemic between 1906 and 1910.
Mike's paternal grandfather Rev. Charlie Curb was born in Bell County, Texas and later walked from Bell County, Texas all the way to Denton, Texas where Mike's paternal grandmother Martha lived. After Charlie and Martha were married, he preached in over 100 churches in Texas and Oklahoma for over 50 years. Mike's grandmother, Eloisa Salazar was born near the Texas Mexico border. After losing her father and three sisters during the pandemic, she put herself through college at San Marcos College in Texas. After she graduated, she became a translator because she could write and speak in perfect Spanish and English. She met and married a young soldier named Charles Stout who was stationed at Ft. McIntyre near San Antonio, Texas. They had one daughter Estella named after Estella Salazar who had died during the pandemic. Estella married a young FBI agent named Charles Curb in 1944 and Mike Curb and Carole Curb were their only two children.
Mike’s maternal grandmother Eloisa Salazar Stout loved the American political system and kept a diary documenting the day-to-day events of the United States government along with the history of the Salazar/Stout/Curb family (her diary can be found on mikecurb.com). She definitely inspired the Curb Foundation with her strong belief in government service, education, equality for all, as well as helping the underserved people.
Also, Mike was fortunate to have his grandfather Rev. Charlie Curb, who reached out to the Native American nation, and his second grandfather Charles Stout, who devoted his life to the YMCA. In summary, three of Mike’s grandparents were born and raised in Texas and the fourth served in the military in Texas. In addition, Mike’s father served as an FBI agent and later joined as an executive and lawyer at a Texas based oil company ConocoPhillips and ultimately moved, along with Mike’s mother Estella, to live near their home office in Houston, Texas. Mike’s sister, Carole, attended the University of Houston prior to graduating from UCLA.
When Mike graduated from high school in 1962, his father allowed him to drive the family’s old 1953 Chevy to Waco, Texas to audition his young music group, the Mike Curb Congregation, for Texas based Word Records. Fortunately, Word gave Mike his first opportunity to make a record. It is so ironic that fifty-three years later Curb would purchase Word Records from Warner Brothers. It is amazing that Mike Curb could now own the largest record company in the history of Texas.
In addition to owning Word Records, Mike still owns Curb Records which he started in 1963 when he was eighteen years old. Today, the combination of Curb and Word is considered by many to be the largest independent record company in America. Curb has had incredible success with recording artists from Texas including LeAnn Rimes, Lyle Lovett, Hal Ketchum, Junior Brown, Steve Holy, Clay Walker, and many others. In 1978 Mike married Linda Dunphy who is the daughter of famed Southern California broadcaster Jerry Dunphy, and they have two daughters. Both of Linda's and Mike's daughters married boys that were very connected to Texas. Their oldest daughter Megan married Brian Cox who was born and raised in Austin, Texas and received his medical degree from the University of Texas in San Antonio. He was chosen to do his seven-year medical residency at Southwestern University in Dallas, Texas. Also, Megan taught school in Austin, Texas, Irving, Texas and San Antonio, Texas. Megan gave Linda and Mike four grandchildren named Catie, Brandon, Conner and Ethan and all four were born in Texas. Linda and Mike's younger daughter Courtney married Taylor Childress whose grandparents were from Mount Pleasant, Texas where Taylor's mother lived. Courtney gave Linda and Mike their fifth and sixth Curb grandchildren named Carter and Caroline. Courtney continues to be very involved in animal rescue and she helped the Curb Foundation get involved in the creation of the Curb Animal education center at the San Antonio, Texas Humane Society which has grown substantially over the years. Also, the Curb Foundation has established the Eloisa Salazar Library at the Kipp School in San Antonio, Texas. The Curb Foundation has also established the Curb Learning Lab and Program for Sports, Music, and Entertainment at Baylor University in Waco, Texas.
In conclusion, although Mike’s great grandparents, grandparents and his parents did not make a lot of money, they gave so much of their time to public service, and they inspired Mike to devote much of his life to building the Curb Foundation. Mike Curb accomplished one of his grandmother’s greatest goals by being elected to public office as Lieutenant Governor and serving as Acting Governor. Mike and Linda believe that they are standing on the shoulders of amazing ancestors, and they continue to devote their lives to continuing the legacy of giving that started with two grandfathers in Texas over 160 years ago.
