The mayor, retiring after 22 years on the job, has a lot of interesting facts to contribute from his wealth of experience, acquired over a lifetime in Algona.

Despite his specialty in math, he can tell you just about anything you need to know about Kossuth County history. For example, how it absorbed Bancroft County in 1857 when one of Algona’s founders, Asa Call, convinced the Iowa state legislature that it would be a waste of taxpayer money to establish a county seat in Bancroft.

That’s what made Kossuth County the largest county in Iowa, giving the state an odd number of counties in a grid drawn to make each one no more than 24 miles wide, so farmers could do their governmental business in a day’s ride.

That knowledge of history has made him perhaps more humble about the role he has played over two decades as mayor in Algona, and many more decades as a math teacher and coach in the Kossuth County seat.

-Messenger photo by Elijah Decious
Lynn Kueck, long-time mayor of Algona, was surprised on his last visit to the town’s Iowa Lakes campus, a location now named after him, with a plaque he could take home. The Lynn Kueck Center was officially dedicated to the hometown figure in July with an identical, but more permanent, plaque now on the wall.

Even after Iowa Lakes Community College officially named its Algona campus after the man — arguably the one person the campus would not exist without — he says he wants to first and foremost be remembered as a loving husband and father to his late wife and daughters.

Driving by a variety of mayoral campaign yard signs for the upcoming city election in his red truck, he said being the mayor never even occurred to him until he was approached with the idea.

He speculated on the best qualities of each candidate as he passed under the train tracks with a train-themed sign welcoming visitors — a reminder of the beginning of his tenure, when he ran on a campaign motto of getting Algona “on the right track.”

Even if he’s modest in some respects, the accomplishments he lists may have contributed to positioning Algona as a competitive town on a horizon of rural depopulation across the state.

Only time can tell whether Kueck’s approach to steering the town of under 6,000 in the right direction will prove to be self-preserving as the future becomes the present, but there’s no denying that he has kept his eye on the bigger picture.

Employers in Algona make the pepperoni for every Papa Murphy’s location in America and the entrance mats for world-class venues in New York City like Madison Square Garden and Trump Tower, where most folks have never heard of Algona.

He’s proud of the five-screen Fridley theater in town, unusual in itself for a town of Algona’s size, but even more of a feat when considering it expanded from a dying one-screen joint.

“What good is it to move into a town if there’s not a dang thing to do?” he said, in the town where nearly one-third of the population is over 65.

Entryway beautification and recreational offerings are a first impression he hopes will stick with visitors as small towns, powered by globally competing manufacturers, seek talent.

Quality paying jobs are also needed, with an emphasis on the sustainable pay. Under his watch, Algona turned down a Monford beef packing plant that would have started wages at the minimum wage.

Even with everything else Algona has going for it, Kueck wanted to ensure education remained a cornerstone in town.

Starting in 1977 as a member of the Iowa Lakes Community College’s board of trustees, he admits Algona was the college’s “red-headed stepchild” with its major set-ups in Estherville and Emmetsburg.

After his wife had to drive to Fort Dodge for night classes twice a week to achieve her dream of being an elementary school teacher, with two children of her own at home, he saw the need.

“We’ve got to do something,” he thought to himself as the stress of the situation took its toll on the family with two busy working parents.

There aren’t many that want to or are able to go through that kind of struggle to make a better path for themselves — and it shouldn’t have to be that way, he contends.

So with talks starting with then-president of the college, Richard Blacker, he opened a new door for anyone to get their associate or bachelor’s degree in select studies at the satellite campus.

“(Blacker) could tell by the tone of my voice that it was time to do it,” Kueck said. His recommendation became a success in 1986.

Thirty-three years later, it was named after him. While he can’t quite put his finger on why the delay was so pronounced, he is nonetheless humbled by the honor.

In a global 21st century economy, the school continues to offer Algona a respectable standing as it affords adults the chance to broaden their horizons or simply stay competitive in the blue collar sectors they work in.

After all, advancing technology in manufacturing fields requires education and training, too.

With trends of increased urbanization in Iowa, Kueck hopes that the community college bearing his name will carry on the legacy of giving Kossuth County residents the ability to live a fulfilled life, with opportunity in the rural place people call home.

“What’s one of the best ways to change your life? It’s through education,” he said, a truth he witnessed first-hand.

After graduating from Stanford University in the ’70s with a master’s degree in math, he resisted tempting job offers with much higher pay in California. Kueck says he’s been more than rewarded with the blessing of being able to share his life with future generations.

Even his political career is something he attributes to education.

For him, teaching is how his hometown got to know him, opening up new doors after he retired to take care of his wife, Sherry, in her declining health.

The mayor’s office also gave him a door of hope to look through as he outlived both his wife and two daughters, Kristine and Karla, who passed away at 38 and 47, respectively.

“The mayor’s job has given me a focus that helped me in my sad times,” he said. “That has been a blessing.”

As he focuses on how to make the most impact in his final months in the position, he knows he’s accomplished much, alongside his fellow Algona residents, to call the place “a city we can all be proud of.”

Dedicated to finishing strong as the mayor, the man in his early 70s is contemplating a future in state politics.

“Here’s my campaign sign,” he joked, holding a pen-smeared drawing he sketched for The Messenger to illustrate how Iowa’s counties were drawn.

But even he doesn’t know for sure, yet.

“In the political game, I don’t know if there’s any such thing as accurate calculations,” said the math teacher.

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