NORWALK, Iowa — The Norwalk Police Department will honor one of their own on Friday with a memorial golf tournament in Des Moines.

The tournament will honor Officer Jayson Spurr, who worked at the Norwalk Police Department for 16 years until he passed away in March 2024 from pancreatic cancer.

Norwalk police officers remember Spurr for his strong commitment to the DARE program, which aims at preventing drug use and youth violence. Spurr taught this program to elementary students for 14 years.

He worked alongside Officer Lilly Dunlop, who is now the School Resource Officer for the Norwalk Community School District. She said she remembers feeling welcomed by Spurr when she joined the force.

“I remember when I first got hired and he and I were riding together, it was so funny because they hadn’t had a female officer on for a while, and he has a daughter, and just the little jokes he would make and just making me feel welcome when I was very green and very new,” she said.

The golf tournament is an annual event hosted by the Norwalk Police Department for over 25 years. Its original purpose was to raise money for DARE and the Limitless Youth for Excellence (LYFE) program, which is another program at the department that helps officers build relationships with the community. However, the department renamed the tournament last year to the Officer Spurr Memorial Golf Outing to honor his life and legacy.

“We will always remember him, but it’s something that other people in the community so that they don’t forget him,” said Dunlop.

The Officer Spurr Memorial Golf Outing will take place on Friday, July 11 at 4 p.m. at the Willow Creek Golf Course in Des Moines.

Dunlop said the event already sold out, so people can no longer sign up to play in the tournament.

“I don’t think in the ten years that I’ve been a part of the tournament that it has sold out so quickly for teams, so that’s amazing,” she said.

The community is still welcome to go to the outing and take part in a raffle and silent auction. The Spurr family will also be at the course to fundraise for a scholarship that will go to a senior at Norwalk High School who plans to pursue a first responder discipline, like police or fire.

The Willow Creek Golf Course is located at 140 SE Willow Creek in Des Moines.

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