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Powhatan Point Youth Get Visit From ‘Valley Avengers’

Two brave Powhatan Point Elementary students got a visit from some local superheroes Tuesday.

Alan and Arthur Curtis, who were injured in an explosion and house fire in August and are going through a long recovery, joined the team when their school received a visit Tuesday from the Friendly Valley-Wide Spider-Man of the Valley Avengers, with "Tony Stark" driving him to the site. Students cheered and swarmed the wall-crawler with questions and requests for autographs.

Their teachers in second and third grades, Krista Hunt and Leslye Fetty, said the brothers have made impressive progress since returning to school around November.

"They came back and made great strides," Hunt said. "To work through everything that they've been through, they've done a wonderful job and are excited to come to school each day and can't wait to see their friends."

Their mother, Alice Curtis, was present and spoke about their recovery.

"They spent almost three months of time in the hospital because they had severe burns around their bodies' surface," she said. "Both had third-degree burns. Alan, my older boy, he had 49 percent of his body burned. My younger one, he had 21 percent."

She said the three-month hospitalization was followed by physical therapy and counseling.

"I encouraged them to come back to school because of the teacher they know, the classmates they play with. They just miss them so much," Alice Curtis said, adding that the school also has physical therapy and provides valuable encouragement.

She said despite their severe injuries, their biggest challenge was losing their father, Arnold Curtis, who died as a result of the same accident.

"They were really tied to him," she said. "They seem to get a little bit better, talking about what happened. In this moment, we're still not able to say what exactly caused the explosion because we still don't know."

She added that the superheroes' visit meant a lot to her sons.

"They're always superhero fans, big fans," she said, adding that the pair have been living up to superhero standards. "I think so. I don't think a lot of people, even adults like us, can do so much as they are doing."

Principal Rob Caldwell said hearing about the accident was a shock to the close-knit school.

"It was last summer. We had no kids here and we heard a bunch of sirens going up the creek," he said. "We saw the house ablaze."

He said the boys returned to class in late fall or early winter and the other students were happy to greet them.

"They're close-knit. This is a small school," he said. "As we returned to school, the two boys were still going back and forth, here to Akron and the burn unit, but they came back for a visit for a day or so. We had everybody in the gym to kind of surprise them when they walked in. Everybody was hugging them," he said. "They've adjusted tremendously, and for all the schooling that the've lost, they've recovered. They've done really well academically. They're on top of things, and that's a credit to their mom."

Stark, who also goes by his day-to-day identity of Tom Wensyel, said the Avengers often visit children who are battling illness and recovering from accidents. They recently paid a call to a child recovering from open-heart surgery.

"That's our main goal. We show up and they get to meet the superheroes," he said, adding the costumed characters lend encouragement. "To face what they're going through, and Spider-Man just seems to bring out the best in everybody."

He said the Valley Avengers are often awed by the courage of the children they visit.

"We have learned something very important: the power of a child. Their willpower, their strength, their soul can't be overcome. You can't beat the heart of a child, and if we all accept a little bit of the heart of a child within us, it would be a whole different world."

Your Friendly Valley-Wide Spider-Man and the Valley Avengers can be found on Facebook.