Curry was ‘lady of three wars’ in Poplar Bluff

In case you didn’t know, there is a museum here in Poplar Bluff. It has tales of us, our family, and our history. I want to tell you some of those tales found within the museum walls.
In 1907, Florida Curry began what she called “horse and buggy social work.” The town was so small then, Curry recalled, that it was just the neighborly thing to do. As the town outgrew her hometown efforts, Curry reached out the Red Cross to start a chapter in Butler County.
When war broke out in 1917, Curry began a fund drive for the Red Cross to support the troops in World War I.
A decade later when the 1927 tornado and following floods devastated Poplar Bluff, Curry led the Red Cross efforts to provide aid to 300 to 500 refugees. She was a true angel walking among our town’s worse night.
After Pearl Harbor, she helped the war effort in another Red Cross fund drive. She did the same when hostilities broke out on the Korean peninsula. She led the Red Cross efforts through three wars in Butler County.
Besides these efforts already stated, Curry remained active in every aspect of the community. She organized numerous local charities. She started food drives that brought farmers’ produce direct to the public, the first farmers’ market.
She taught Sunday school and was active in the Parent Teacher Association. As a widow of a railroad worker, she was active in the Missouri Pacific Women’s Club and their charities. One such charity provided transportation for children to receive medical care in St. Louis hospitals.
The Daughters of the American Revolution and Daughters of the Confederacy gave her awards for her service to those organizations as well as numerous citations from the Red Cross.
Florida Curry’s Red Cross uniform and biography are on display in the People Room of the Poplar Bluff Museum. The Museum is open every Sunday free of charge from 1-4 p.m. at 1010 Main Street, the Old Mark Twain School building. Tell them Mike sent you!