Fairfield’s Kevin Curran named Iowa Elk of the Year

FAIRFIELD — Fairfield resident Kevin Curran received a prestigious honor in April when he was named Iowa Elk of the Year.

Curran has been a member of Fairfield Elks for 40 years, and in that time he’s held about every cabinet position possible. Curran was one of four Iowans nominated for the state’s top honor, and he learned that he won during the Iowa Elks Convention in Des Moines on Saturday, April 29. Each quadrant of the state selected a finalist to be Iowa Elk of the Year, and Curran was representing Southeast Iowa.

Curran said he was thrilled to receive such a high honor, and that he didn’t expect to win the award. The Elks choose their Iowa Elk of the Year based on a point system, where nominees are given points based on their leadership positions and how active they are in their local lodge. Though Curran has been very active on many committees during his four decades in Fairfield Elks, he has never held a state office with the Iowa Elks, so he assumed the Elk of the Year Award would go to someone else.

“Serving on state committees would give you high point values, but I never intended to serve at the state level,” Curran said. “I told them that my local lodge needs my help more.”

Curran joined the Fairfield Elks in October 1982, just a month after marrying his wife, Laura, and moving to Fairfield.

“My father-in-law, Richard Robinson, was very active in the Elks, and he told me that to marry his daughter, I had to join Elks,” Curran said.

One of the first committees that Curran worked on was the Elks’ prom committee for Fairfield High School, which the group organized until about 2015 when the high school took it over. Curran has served on the committee that selects the winner of the sixth-grade essay contest about “What the Flag Means to Me.” He’s also been on the Elks National Hoop Shoot Contest since 1985.

Curran has been involved in the Elks National Foundation, which sends about $9,000 back to Fairfield Elks for various community projects. One of those projects is the “Shop with a Hero” program where kids go shopping with first-responders for their families and themselves around Christmastime. Another program that the national foundation helps to fund is a tree-planting initiative that Fairfield Elks uses to plant trees in city parks.

To raise money for the Elks National Foundation, the Fairfield Elks hold an annual breakfast spearheaded by Doug Bagby, which Curran has helped with for the past 30 years.

Curran has served on the committee responsible for Red Ribbon Week, which educates youngsters about the dangers of drugs and alcohol.

For the past 20 years, Curran has been one of the group’s dishwashers for its meals, such as its wild game feed, rocky mountain oyster feed and shrimp feed. However, he has had to retire from that post after tearing his quadriceps muscle in both his legs in January.

“I’m learning to walk again,” Curran said. “My rehab is going reasonably well, and I’m walking with a walker, but I’m still very weak.”

Curran said that he hopes Fairfield Elks can attract young people to join the organization. He said he would tell young people thinking of joining that the Elks does great charitable work with veterans and youth, and is a good way to meet people.

“I’ve developed a lot of friendships over the 40 years I’ve been a member,” Curran said. “Now I’m kind of in need, and a lot of people have stepped up to help me by driving me around.”

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