Kurt Corday was introduced, in February 1985, as a young man working on the Alaska Pipeline who, as lonely young man, frequented a brothel run by madam Diamond Lil. There Kurt became a "customer" of one of Diamond Lil's new "girls" "Rosie Cheeks" who, in actuality was amnesiac the Roxanna "Roxie" Shayne. Back in January 1985, Roxie had been in a relationship with Cedars Hospital resident-in-training Rick Bauer, but was being blackmailed by Kyle Sampson to spy for him or else he would tell Rick about Roxie's past as a prostitute. Roxie had flown to Alaska to save her boss, Billy Lewis, from a bad business deal. Roxie's loyalty to Billy stemmed from the fact that he knew about her past but didn't judge her for it. Unfortunately, As Roxie headed for the airport to fly back to Springfield, her snowmobile overturned during a blizzard. Suffering from a concussion and amnesia, she wandered aimlessly in the snow and disappeared into the Alaskan wilderness until she met up with Diamond Li and became Kurt's favorite girl. Soon, Kurt soon found himself falling in love with this intriguing young woman. Later, Rick Bauer finally tracked Roxie down and when he found her at the brothel, he denounced his girlfriend as a whore! Rosie was dumbfounded, as she had no idea who Rick was. Kurt fell even harder for Rosie, who took the name of Smith, and Kurt surprised her with an Eskimo marriage festival and a honeymoon in an igloo.

A despondent Rick returned to Springfield and informed Reva Shayne that he had found her kid sister, Roxie. Pregnant at the time, Reva appealed to a new friend for help – Kyle. Kyle generously flew Reva to Alaska on his jet to retrieve Roxie; as they were flying the confused girl back to Springfield, Kurt, who had stowed aboard, appeared with a spear gun! After a struggle with Kurt, Kyle jumped out of the plane with Reva and the two parachuted to safety.

Roxie and Kurt settled in Springfield and began working for Tony Reardon at Company where Billy's daughter, Mindy, was also working. Meanwhile, Rick helped Roxie regain her memory, including the sad memory of her being raped at age twelve. With this revelation, Roxie felt unworthy of Rick's affections, not to mention the love of such a close family as the Bauers. Rick refused to give up on Roxie, however, and became increasingly suspicious of Kurt. Investigating the newcomer, Rick discovered that Kurt was an illegal alien from Canada. The situation came full circle when Mindy and Kurt fell in love and became engaged. Rick warned Mindy that Kurt might only be after her money. To guarantee that Kurt be allowed to stay in the country, Roxie crashed Mindy and Kurt's wedding ceremony and had the minister marry her off to Kurt! The immigration officials eventually realized they'd been had. Fortunately, they gave Kurt a reprieve and his marriage to Roxie was annulled.

Soon after, Billy demanded that Kurt properly propose to Mindy and give the engagement some time before having a proper wedding. Later in the spring of 1985, June, Warren Andrews opened up a new nightclub, the Blue Orchid. After Kurt asked her to marry him, Mindy, who loved the ambience of the Blue Orchid, suggested that they have a lavish wedding there. Kurt agreed and the date was for November of 1985. Mindy and Kurt had a grand wedding, with Mindy in a gorgeous gown and veil and Kurt in a tuxedo with a white coat and golden pants and white gloves, and Billy gave Mindy away. At the reception, tragedy struck when Billy, who unbeknownst to everyone had brainwashed by the Largo Organization, pulled a gun and aimed it at Kyle! When H.B. Lewis called out Billy's name in the ensuing melee, David Preston was shot instead! Billy looked about to be convicted, until at the 11th hour, Suzette Saxon confessed to shooting and killing David Preston. .

In January 1986, Kyle, with Jackson Freemont's help, started a new ad campaign for a new cosmetics line. Kyle, on Jackson's and Beth Raines' advice, decided to have a beauty contest to name the new "Sampson Girl" who would advertise the products. Rivals Mindy, Roxie and Jessie Matthews all vied to be the "Sampson Girl." As with most beauty contest, there was a lot of backstabbing,, nail biting and a little bit of backstage intrigue. Jackson prematurely created a victory poster for Beth Raines, who he was falling in love with, while Kyle threatened to reveal Roxie's past as a prostitute after her father Hawk Shayne, threatened to blackmail Kyle over his illegal ownership of Reva's former house, Reva Bend. Worried about Kyle's threat, Roxie dropped out. When Mindy used her sexy good looks to sway the votes of the judges, much to Kurt's chagrin, she ended up winning the contest and being named "the Sampson Girl."

Unfortunately, Mindy's role as the "Sampson Girl" put a strain on her marriage. As the "Sampson Girl," Mindy traveled, schmoozed and was interviewed by the likes of Dick Cavett, while Kurt was busy building their dream house and keeping Company running smoothly. Kurt looked forward to the day when Mindy would become a full-time wife and they could start a family. Kurt was blissfully unaware that Jackson had talked Mindy into signing a no-pregnancy clause. Meanwhile, Alex Spaulding and Hawk Shayne, out of a mutual enmity towards Kyle, fabricated evidence that the "Sampson Girl" contest was a fraud. Suddenly, Mindy's name was mud. Ready to roll up her sleeves, Mindy went to the construction site of the new house, where she found Kurt and Roxie asleep in each other's arms! Unfortunately, Mindy didn't know that Roxie had been helping Kurt with the house, and they had varnished themselves into a corner and had to remain there until the varnish dried. Jealous and angry, Mindy beat a hasty exit, knocking over a kerosene lamp in the process. A fire broke out, and Hawk risked his life to save Roxie and Kurt. The house was destroyed, but the incident prompted Hawk and Roxie to reconcile as father and daughter. Eventually, Mindy admitted to starting the fire. In April 1986, a disillusioned Kurt left to work on a Lewis Oil rig off the coast of Venezuela in order to get away from Mindy for a while. Tragically, later that year, Kurt would be caught in a major explosion on the rig. Kurt, along with every man on the old rig, was killed instantly and Mindy was left a widow.