The Allbaugh Community Service Award was originally endowed in 1984, with $10,000 given by siblings Kenneth Albaugh, and Janet Allbaugh Knorr as a memorial to their parents, Roy and Cornelia Allbaugh. Starting in 1985, the award has now been given for 38 years in a row.
The first recipients were Dr. Orin and Marge Emerson. There have been many since. Each chosen for consistently showing their dedication to the Eagle Grove community through their service to it. It is each recipient's personal history of selfless contributions of time, energy, talents, and resources applied to growing and improving Eagle Grove, protecting our local history, and providing for the welfare of the people who live here.
The award and fund are administered by Our Foundation for the Future. Kurt Knudsen of the Foundation served as the emcee for the award ceremony, held during the Chamber of Commerce Coffee held at the Eagle Grove Memorial Library on Friday.
"The 2022 Award this year's recipient has all the qualifications," Knutson said. "She has literally taken the 'bull by the horns' by almost single handedly reorganizing, rearranging, reclassifying, sorting, cleaning… more cleaning of this very building you are in now!" As chuckles echoed about the room over the "cleaning… more cleaning" remark, Knutson added, "and not only inside but outside – and giving of her time on evenings and weekends to bring enjoyment to class reunions and tours of this museum."
Winners have their names engraved on a progressive plaque kept on display at the Eagle Grove historical society in the old Memorial Library building. Presently, recipients also receive a plaque of their own, and a $500 gift is made to the charity of their choice in their name.
The name engraved on that progressive plaque this year is that of Bev Wilde.
"Oh for Heaven's sake, no," Wilde declared in shock upon the announcement of her selection, modestly adding, "there are other people who have done so much for this besides me…" And as she was shown her name on the progressive plaque, she doubled down on that sentiment, "Oh, there's so many people that are more deserving than me," she insisted.
Wilde then grudgingly, but graciously accepted her plaque. "Thank you," she said, "but everybody helped." And then joked that working at the museum was her "covid therapy."
Wilde explained that comment to the Eagle a few minutes later. "I liked to work during COVID," she said, "we were closed, so we got a lot done." For Wilde, it's about keeping life interesting. "I thank everybody for their donations and their support," she remarked, adding, "both monetary, and material, which keeps it interesting." Wilde also said she'd had a lot of help from members of the community cleaning up the Museum, and with the recently completed restoration of the lower level. "I give the historical society a lot of credit for all the help and funding," she concluded.
