John and Kay Egan were dedicated activist for the cause of recognizing and responding to the rights, needs, and desires of victims of violent crime. Mr. and Mrs. Egan came to the Victim Rights Movement from personal tragedy. In 1983, their daughter, Ellen Egan, was murdered at the hands of her boyfriend. The murder took place in Iowa City, Iowa, where Ellen Egan was a student at the University of Iowa.
Kay Egan volunteered thousands of hours in various aspects of victim advocacy, and was often joined by her husband, John, in these activities. Kay and John were dedicated supporters of the Polk County Homicide Survivors Support Group, lending counsel to many family members and other survivors of victims of homicide. They also were active in the Iowa Organization for Victim Assistance and served as a member of the Board of Directors for several years. Mrs. Egan also spent many hours as a volunteer advocate and lobbyist on behalf of the rights of crime victims at the Iowa General Assembly.
After her death in October, 1998, a fellow member of the Iowa Organization for Victim Assistance Board of Directors observed that Kay Egan often prompted her fellow board members to keep focused on the concerns of crime victims. A notice of Kay's passing on an e-mail list for victim advocates brought an observation from the Deputy Director of the National Organization for Victim Assistance that her work had affected crime victims well beyond Iowa. She had served on a committee which developed a manual for death notification (Death Notification Procedures) which achieved national notice and has been used as a model in other jurisdictions.
In 1999, the Board of Directors of the Iowa Organization established the Kay Egan Memorial Award to honor Mrs. Egan's memory and her dedication to the concerns of crime victims. The award will be presented annually to an Iowan whose service to crime victims and their interests reflects Kay Egan's dedication.
After John's death in 2003, the members of IOVA voted to rename the award to the John and Kay Egan Memorial Award in the spirit of team work and dedication to victims of crime.
Every year an award is presented in their honor to a person who has performed outstanding services to victims in Iowa. If you know of a person who is deserving us such recognition, please use the form on this link to nominate that person for the John and Kay Egan award. Nomination form