Tollenaere, Haines named Fairfield Citizens of the Year

FAIRFIELD — Kathy Tollenaere and Ron Haines were named the two Citizens of the Year at the Fairfield Area Chamber of Commerce’s Annual Banquet Thursday night at the Fairfield Arts & Convention Center.

The honor came as a surprise to the two recipients. Last year’s Citizens of the Year, Kent Whitney and LeAnne Edgeton, presented the awards to Haines and Tollenaere by reading their list of accomplishments, and only revealing their identities at the end.

Neither Haines nor Tollenaere had any inkling they would receive an award that night. Their spouses did well to keep the secret. Haines said he always attends the banquet anyway because his bank, MidWestOne Bank in Fairfield, is the presenting sponsor. Tollenaere said Mark Shafer told her to attend the banquet because the Carnegie Historical Museum would receive an award, so she was perplexed when that never came to pass.

Early in Edgeton’s introduction, she said that 1979 was a big year for this Citizen of the Year recipient because that was the year they moved to Fairfield. That immediately made Tollenaere’s ears perk up because that was the year she and her husband Pete moved to town.

In the very next line, Edgeton described how this citizen began volunteering their time at the First United Methodist Church, teaching Sunday school, becoming church librarian and starting a prayer blanket ministry for shut-ins. That’s when it dawned on Tollenaere that Edgeton must be referring to her.

During Whitney’s introduction, he spoke about a Citizen of the Year who served on numerous boards, was involved in their church, and had a passion for the youth. He named the organizations they were involved in, such as the Fairfield Arts & Convention Center, Fairfield Visitor’s Bureau, Habitat for Humanity, Greater Jefferson County Foundation Board and several others.

Haines said Whitney was about four lines into his speech when Haines poked his wife Heidi at the table and asked her, “All right, who put in the nomination?” She ignored him. When Whitney was halfway through his speech, it was now obvious that he was describing Haines, so he poked his wife again and this time she turned around and smiled at him.

“She’s always been supportive of all my community involvement,” Haines said about Heidi. “Whether it was coaching kids, to Carry on Bags, to the various boards, she’s always supported giving back to the community.”

Kathy Tollenaere

Edgeton detailed Tollenaere’s involvement in organizations such as Fairfield Art Association, where she has overseen art camps, garden tours and led the completion of the Leap Frog sculpture outside the Carnegie Museum. The museum is another of her passions, where she serves on its board of directors and works several days a week on exhibits and historical information.

Tollenaere contributed her artistic talent to one of the exhibits by painting the backdrop of the new bird display. She has been instrumental in converting the lower gallery to feature the “History of Fairfield and Jefferson County.”

One of the community projects that Tollenaere is most proud of having worked on is the swinging bridge at Jefferson County Park. Tollenaere raised money for the project while a member of the Jefferson County Conservation Board. She said the bridge was in disrepair, so to raise money for it, she and her daughter Cheryl designed and sold T-shirts saying “Jefferson County Swingers.” The shirts raised more than $1,000.

Gardening is another love of Tollenaere’s, and that has led her to become a Master Gardner. When fellow gardener Dorothy Bell devised the idea of holding garden tours, Tollenaere jumped right in, along with Suzan Kessel and Karin Hauring. Tollenaere has worked on a few public gardens such as one on the west side of the Jefferson County Health Center, and on garden nodes in the city parking lot south of the Methodist Church.

“We parked in that parking lot often, and it was not pretty,” Tollenaere said. “We put in two nodes and a strip down the center. It took a lot of years to clean up. When you go to work downtown and you’re greeted with beauty, how can that not start your day out right?”

Kathy and her husband Pete celebrated their 50th anniversary on April 1 of this year. They have two children, Cheryl and husband Kyle of Omaha, and Keith and wife Kim of Michigan, along with six grandchildren.

Ron Haines

Haines grew up on a farm east of Fairfield, the youngest of six children. After high school, he attended the University of Iowa in Iowa City, where he lived for the next 20 years while working in banking. He moved back to Fairfield 13 years ago to take a position at MidWestOne Bank, where he is market president.

Within just a year of moving back to Fairfield, Haines became involved in Fairfield’s chapter of Future Business Leaders of America as a mentor, which would prove to be one of his most fulfilling endeavors.

“It’s great to have the opportunity to interact with students and give them a nugget they can learn from, to get them to understand the importance of giving back to the community,” Haines said.

Haines has been active in FBLA for 12 years, and this past year was recognized as Businessperson of the Year at the Iowa FBLA Spring Conference.

Haines has been active in the Fairfield Park & Rec Foundation Board, and was a task force member for the new pool and gymnasium. He has been co-chair of the Rotary Christmas Eve Parade and auction committee. He’s involved in his church, First Lutheran Church, where he is a council member, usher, greeter and youth leader.

Haines can be seen volunteering in youth sporting events such as serving as a coach for football, basketball and baseball. He’s been a key player in organizing and fundraising for youth basketball, and refereeing basketball and girls’ volleyball.

Haines and his wife Heidi have three children: daughter Kiley and husband Kyle of Cedar Rapids, son Aaron, a student at the University of Northern Iowa, and son Evan, a senior at Fairfield High School.

Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com