WEBSTER CITY — Local social sorority, Beta Sigma Phi, named Jane Curtis its Woman-of-the-Year for 2022 at its annual Founder’s Day dinner, held on Monday evening at New Testament Church of Christ, 716 Fair Meadow Drive, Webster City.

Born in Webster City, Curtis grew up on the family farm in Blairsburg Township, Hamilton County, homesteaded by her great-great grandparents in 1874. The neighborhood was locally known as “Mulberry Center.”

“The institutional focus of the community at that time was Mulberry Center Evangelical United Brethren [E.U.B.] Church, including Sunday School, Vacation Bible School, and The Helping Hand Club,” Curtis said.

The church first opened its doors July 13, 1890, holding services there through 1991. Today, the building is preserved in Wilson Brewer Park, Webster City, and is a popular wedding venue.

A 1971 graduate of Webster City High School, Curtis earned a B.S. in Journalism and Mass Communication from Iowa State University, and completed post-graduate work in writing and acting at Wesleyan University, located in Middletown, Connecticut, before beginning her long career in writing, editing and publishing.

She worked for newspapers and magazines in Washington, New Milford, Waterbury, and Hartford, Connecticut in the 1980s. From 1992 to 2000, Jane wrote news features on development, zoning and preservation in Denver, Colorado’s historic Lower Downtown neighborhood, which was then undergoing rapid re-development.

She was founding Editor of LoDo News from 1995 to 2000, and creator and writer of Building Legacies, a short film concerned with integrity in city-building. She’s the author of “Denver, Brick By Brick; How Masonry Changed the Face of the West,” published in 2001-2002.

Jane came home to Iowa in 2009 to become Editor of The Messenger in Fort Dodge. Retiring in 2019, she was appointed Interim Editor of Webster City’s Daily Freeman Journal in 2022, working through early 2023.

Curtis is the author of two novels, “Pigs Must Fly” and “Funeral Food,” published in 2011 and 2013, respectively, creator of the play “Little Boy,” and author of a variety of short stories and essays, including six children’s stories.

Jane was employed as designer, editor and writing coach by a writer hoping to complete the manuscript of a personal memoir. It was published in 2006 as “The Footpaths of My Life,” and is now in the Iowa State Archives. Jane’s one woman play, titled “Afternoon,” based on historic events of the founding of Webster City, was performed locally.

Beyond work, Jane has volunteered as a rape crisis counselor, later becoming President, Domestic and Sexual Assault Outreach Center in Webster County. The organization serves a 15-county area by sheltering victims of domestic violence at its center in Fort Dodge.

It also supports families of homicide victims. Jane has also served on the Finance Board of All Cultures Equal, Wilson Brewer Park committee, and Arts R Alive, all in Webster City.

Beta Sigma Phi is a women’s social sorority, founded in Abilene, Kansas, by Walter W. Ross in 1931. In addition to its central mission of providing a network of friendship and support for, and by, women, BSP members raised $22,000,000 for U.S. Government war bonds during World War II.

Today, in an average year, BSP’s nationwide chapters raise more than $3 millions for local charities, and donate more than 200,000 volunteer hours in service of others. Unlike college sororities, BSP accepts members of all ages and educational backgrounds.

The first chapter of Beta Sigma Phi in Webster City was chartered June 21, 1949. On July 20, 1980, a second chapter was organized, later sub-dividing into two chapters.

A “career” chapter designed to meet the schedules of busy working women, was organized in the 1990s. Today, three chapters remain active in Webster City; Laureate Gamma Omicron, Preceptor Beta Chi, and Preceptor Delta Upsilon.

Since 1986, Beta Sigma Phi chapters in Webster City have honored 40 women with its Woman-of-the-Year award. Each year, members nominate a worthy woman for her efforts to serve our community and improve its culture and education.

Winners are presented with a yellow rose, official flower of the organization and a cash donation to a cause she supports.

Jane’s brother, Leonard Curtis, Webster City, said what many will be thinking, when he heard his sister had been chosen 2022 Woman-of-the-Year.

“Congratulations, Jane,” said Leonard. “You have succeeded in elevating community journalism and community building to an art.”