Over the past quarter century, Barbara E. Curry has volunteered to help several Lawton organizations -- and she’s not stopping anytime soon.
Curry, recipient of the 2021 Volunteer of the Year award for the Lawton-Fort Sill Chamber of Commerce, said helping others is in her blood, spending about 15 hours a week as the chamber’s receptionist. It’s important to her, she said, to make a good first impression on visitors who come to the Lawton chamber office.
“It’s a whole lot of fun for me without punching a clock,” Curry said. “My personality, smile, wisdom and joy are things I can give out to anyone who comes in. I call the chamber (office) my happy place. This (volunteering) is second nature to me.”
Curry and her husband moved to Lawton in 1996 when he was transferred to Fort Sill. The couple decided to retire and make their home in Lawton.
She has volunteered at the chamber of commerce since 2017. The award she received June 19 was her second time to be honored for her volunteerism. The volunteer award is named after longtime Lawton volunteer and chamber president Sheila O. Lee.
“That was, to me, the highest honor I’ve received,” she said. “Sheila was a powerhouse. She started as a volunteer and worked herself up to president. I don’t think I’ve got enough hours left in my life to live up to her accomplishments.”
But Curry’s efforts go beyond the chamber of commerce. Since arriving in Lawton 25 years ago, she has volunteered at her church, nursing homes, Comanche County Memorial Hospital as a patient advocate as well as the American Red Cross where she operated as a disaster preparedness specialist.
That training was especially vital in 2013 when Curry spent 13 days in Moore and the south Oklahoma City area following a disastrous tornado that killed 24 people, destroyed 300 homes and caused $2.2 billion in damages.
In 2014, Curry was named the volunteer of the year for the American Red Cross. During that same year, she was honored as the Comanche County Woman of the Year. In 2017, Curry was presented the Woman of the Year award at the Women of Color Expo.
“This community has been good to me, and my works have not gone unnoticed,” she said.
Her compassion has been noticeable wherever she has volunteered. Curry, 61, would bring home “two or three” Woodland Hills nursing residents during holidays to share the time with her family and enjoy a meal.
“These were people who didn’t have any family and were all alone, so I would check a couple of them out and bring them to the house where we ate and had a good time. Then, I would take them back,” she recalled.
Curry has also volunteered at the Lawton Philharmonic and the Mayor’s Commission on the Status of Women.