When heavy rains flooded the Heber Springs Humane Society in the 1990s, Lynne Curry waded into the muck to save the big dogs that were tethered to submerged doghouses.
"Miss Lynne was out there hauling 60-, 70-pound dogs out of the mud," said Rose Coleman, who is president of the Humane Society board. "Lynne was a tiny lady. She was out there with the men hauling those dogs in until every dog was taken out of that flood area."
Curry, 86, who served for 30 years on the Humane Society board, died Sunday after battling with pneumonia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and having a heart attack three weeks ago, said her daughter, Susan Grayson of Little Rock.
Curry was born and raised in Memphis. She worked for 30 years in the travel and airline industries, beginning in 1951 at Southern Airways, Grayson said.
After retiring, Lynne Curry and her husband, Allen Curry, moved to the Heber Springs area in the 1980s.
Lynne Curry was known around Heber Springs for her love of animals.
"People would call her up when they saw that people had dumped puppies on an island in the Little Red River," said Lynn Reid, Curry's next-door neighbor.
"She would get somebody with a boat to take her out there to rescue the dogs."
Coleman said Curry attended every meeting of the Humane Society board until leaving the board in December. She also worked every Monday and Friday at the Heber Springs Humane Society Thrift Shop.
Stacy Dolan, who was the animal control officer in Heber Springs from 1995 to 2013, remembers going to a "cat conference" with Curry and another person in the 1990s.
"They found out I was animal control, and I became the outcast of the crowd," he said of the conference.
"I always told Miss Lynne, 'I'm going to pay you back for that.'"
But it was all in good fun, Dolan said.
"Normally, Humane Society and animal control are like oil and water, but we worked together like peanut butter and jelly," he said. "We had no problems for 20 years, as long as I was here. I needed help, and she was there. They needed help, and I was there. She was one of the sweetest ladies I've ever known."
A renovated building at the Humane Society is named for her: the Lynne Curry Surgery Center for Animals.
It provides space for veterinarians to work on the animals.
Grayson said she often carried home animals when she was a child.
Her mother might make a face but never seemed to mind.
Curry had five animals at the time of her death: dogs Chicky and Buffy, a 17-pound Maine Coon cat named Tootsie, and two formerly feral cats named Willy and Cissy. All five were adopted from the Human Society.
Bill Sowell of North Little Rock, Curry's son, posted Monday on Facebook:
"My sweet mother 'earned her wings' last night. At 86 she lived a good life and touched many people's lives and countless numbers of animals through her 30 years on the Heber Springs Humane Society board."
Saturday's funeral "will not be a doom and gloom funeral," Grayson said. "It will be a celebration of life."
Metro on 02/13/2018