‘She really believed in the community’
CVB Visitor Services Director Connie Lind-Fraher passes away
Connie Lind-Fraher, an accomplished business owner and, later, a dedicated visitor services director for the Fort Dodge Convention and Visitors Bureau, passed away at her residence at Friendship Haven recently.
She was 66.
“Connie was probably one of the most caring and genuine people I knew,” said Kerrie Kuiper, executive director of the CVB. “She has a card drawer and any time anyone was facing a hard time or a happy time, Connie was the first one to grab a card and reach out to a person. That’s just who she was. Just a very, very kind soul.”
Kuiper started working with Lind-Fraher in 2017. Kuiper recalled the positive impact that Lind-Fraher had on everyone around her.
“We had an intern (Emily Johnson, St. Edmond graduate) who worked with us for the summer (a few years ago) and Connie was just such a mentor for everybody she met but she was the first person to volunteer or to help if there was ever a need,” Kuiper said. “She took Emily under her wing and Emily had a great internship due to Connie.”
Lind-Fraher was born in Iowa City to Jim and Rose Lind. Her childhood and adolescent years were spent in Cedar Rapids and Mason City until she attended Iowa State University in Ames in 1973. She studied journalism at first, then switched to business and graduated with a business major and minors in psychology and sociology. She then attended Buena Vista University in Storm Lake to finish out her bachelor’s degree.
After college, she moved to Fort Dodge in 1976 and began her business career as director of Health Manpower, a physician recruitment organization. Lind-Fraher then moved up the ladder to be both the vice president and owner of A-1 Home Healthcare, a business established by her mother, until 2007. She was then announced as the chief executive officer, president and owner of A-1 in 2008.
A family-owned company established in 1979, A-1 Home Healthcare Medical Equipment & Supplies, opened in Cedar Rapids, Des Moines and in two locations in Fort Dodge. The company was an independent medical equipment supplier for 37 years until it merged with UnityPoint Health in 2015.
In the past, she was part of a legislative committee that flew to Washington, D.C., to lobby on Medicare changes and health legislation. She has also attended state legislative sessions on Medicaid issues and cuts.
Lind-Fraher was involved with numerous committees within the Main Street Fort Dodge, Greater Fort Dodge Growth Alliance organizations and Fort Dodge Noon Rotary.
She joined the Fort Dodge CVB after a 40 plus year career in the medical supply industry. During that career, she was active in numerous organizations, event planning committees, project teams and was named the Fort Dodge Small Business of the Year recipient and Athena Business Woman of the Year recipient in 2005. The Athena award was one she especially cherished, according to Kuiper.
“She was very proud of receiving that and humbled by that,” Kuiper said. “She was extremely active in a lot of organizations. I can’t imagine there’s very many people she met who she didn’t have an impact on. She’s just that kind of person.”
Lind-Fraher, who was also an active member of First Presbyterian Church, was dependable.
“The biggest thing I can give her is just that she was somebody you could count on,” Kuiper said. “And she was there to make your day better. Even if her day was bad, she was going to make yours better.”
As visitor services director, she let visitors know about the interesting and fun things to do in Fort Dodge.
Dennis Plautz, CEO of the Greater Fort Dodge Growth Alliance, said her community involvement was admirable.
“She’s been an ambassador for the Growth Alliance for many years,” Plautz said. “She’s been very active in promoting the community and the activities of the Chamber of Commerce and now more recently the CVB.”
Plautz added, “She and her mother have been very active for years and have contributed to the many initiatives and to projects designed to stimulate the economy.”
She was someone who embraced opportunities to be involved, according to those who knew her.
“She was always very pleasant to be around and willing to jump in on a committee and help people with things that were community based,” Plautz said.
In particular, Lind-Fraher was very involved with the Market on Central activities.
“She participated in a lot of former Chamber and current Growth Alliance committees and activities and she really believed in the community,” Plautz said.
Lydia Schuur, Greater Fort Dodge Growth Alliance, said Lind-Fraher was considerate of others.
“Connie was always very generous and kind,” Schuur said. “She was the person that always thought about picking up a card for someone.Very generous person.”
Kris Patrick, executive director of Main Street Fort Dodge, served on the Main Street promotion team, starting in 2017.
“She became a very close friend,” Patrick said. “Connie was such a caring and loving person. She made everyone around her feel welcome and comfortable. She never forgot a birthday or a special event. It would be like you might have down day and the next day there would be a bouquet of flowers on your desk to cheer you up.”
Patrick said Lind-Fraher also had a sense of humor.
“We’ve had some funny moments,” Patrick said. “She would take money for us for the lunches on the (City) Square because she knows everybody. People would be standing in line and she’d call everyone by their first name and would always have a funny thing to say. She just made everybody feel welcome and acknowledged.”
As a worker, Patrick described Lind-Fraher as “efficient” and “able to relate to so many.”
And Patrick appreciated her sense of style, too.
“She always had the coolest shoes,” Patrick said. “She had such funky, cool shoes.”
Patrick said she will miss going to lunch with Lind-Fraher and seeing her smile.
“I’ll miss being able to hug my friend,” Patrick said. “Heaven got an angel.”
Lind-Fraher was one of Tea Thyme’s best customers, according to owner Debra Lacina.
“She was very supportive of our business,” Lacina said. “She was really one of our best customers in the gift shop. Always looking for a gift for someone.”
And it turns out she would quite literally give something off her back to someone else.
“One time she came in and had this beautiful necklace and I said, ‘I love that necklace, where did you get it?'”
Eventually, Lind-Fraher decided she would gift the necklace to Lacina.
“Next thing I knew Connie comes in and gives me the necklace,” Lacina recalled. “And it was expensive, too. She said you’d get more use out of it and I really wanted to give it to you. So generous and really supportive to businesses. And we aren’t the only ones.”