Instead of finishing high school, Curto joined the United States Marine Corps and spent two years in the military. While in service, he also earned his GED.

He would spend eight years as a building maintenance mechanic before Hurricane Andrew hit.

When Hurricane Andrew rumbled across South Florida, Curto was working part time with another exotic animal dealer and spent the time leading up to the impact crating animals.

By that time it was too late to brace his home for the hurricane.

“I knew it would be bad,” Curto said.

He, his wife, his parrot, Luigi, and two dogs barricaded themselves in the bathroom.

“I held on to the bathroom door and the windows blew off, the roof blew off,” Curto said. “At the end there was nothing left worth salvaging.”

Curto and his wife packed up and moved to Missouri, but Curto was shortly back in Homestead helping clean up the debris at the air force base.

After eight months cleaning up the base, Curto was offered a job at Moody Air Force Base.

“That’s how I wound up in South Georgia,” Curto said. “But I’m still a Jersey man. I’ll never lose the accent.”

Curto’s children still live up North, one in New Jersey and one in New York.

Curto spent 10 years at Moody before he retired.

His home is filled with movies, books and music. The original goal, Curto said, was to retire on a houseboat in the Florida Keys with good music, good books and good movies.

Curto said he has more than 2,000 movies and more than 1,500 CDs.

Though Curto has trouble reading, Stephen King is his favorite author and his favorite book is “Carrie.”