Photo by Sarah Finnegan.
Vestavia Hills Mayor Ashley Mayor Ashley Curry spent 25 years as an FBI agent. “It was the greatest job in the world,” he said.
Evidence of Ashley Curry’s FBI career dots his office on the second floor of Vestavia Hills City Hall.
Near the corner of his desk, which is positioned in front of windows that look onto Montgomery Highway, sits a green and white coffee mug donning the words “FBI Birmingham.”
It was at this local field office where Curry, the Vestavia Hills mayor, spent 23 of his 25 years in the bureau.
“I think I had the record for staying in Birmingham the longest, up until just recently,” said Curry, 68. “There was another guy who I know who served his whole career in Birmingham, and that’s unheard of in the FBI.”
Resting on shelves behind the mayor’s desk are at least two more reminders of his previous career: a red hat inscribed with the three white letters and a small glass display that contains commemorative FBI badges, each from a different era in bureau history.
Curry keeps his personal badge, along with an old credential, at home. The items would not have gained him access to his old office building since the day he retired in 2003. Yet, he holds on.
“If they didn’t have mandatory retirement, I’d still be with them,” said Curry, who retired before reaching the age 57 threshold. “Because I loved it.”
A quarter century in the FBI left an abiding impact on Curry, and it is tangible in more than simple office decor. The qualities he developed as a special agent are now embedded in his composition. They dictate how he speaks, how he acts and, as of taking office last November, how he governs.
Curry ran on the campaign slogan “Integrity In Action,” which acknowledged his bureau roots. Integrity is one of three tenets the FBI heralds on its official seal.
“I think anyone who knows my dad well would describe him as a person of integrity,” said Curry’s daughter, Anna Gualano, who helped oversee his campaign. “We liked the phrase “Integrity In Action” because I think it implies what I know to be true, which is that whatever the situation, you can count on my dad to do the right thing because it’s the right thing to do.”
But Gualano said her father’s integrity predates his FBI career, which began in 1978. At the time, he and his wife, Marga, were living in Spartanburg, South Carolina.
Curry worked in accounting and served on the finance committee at his local Methodist church. One day a fellow committee member, Fletcher Thompson, asked him to lunch for what Curry assumed would be a brainstorming session about a church construction plan.
But Thompson had another agenda. As they broke bread, Thompson revealed details about his 27-year FBI career and told Curry he possessed the traits needed to be an agent.
“I thought he was very personable, spoke well and seemed to be a person who I thought had the qualities to be an investigator and representative of the FBI,” said Thompson, who is 96 and still resides in Spartanburg.
Curry had never considered working for the FBI, but the conversation sparked his interest. He liked the idea of holding a position that presented fresh challenges on a daily basis, which wasn’t the case as a manufacturing accountant.
“The more I read about the FBI and saw what it took to get in, I thought, ‘Well, gosh, just getting in would be an honor, whether I even stay in it,’” Curry said.
He applied in 1976 and was accepted two years later. In May 1978, one month after his first child was born, he left for 14 weeks of training at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia.
Thompson drove up from Spartanburg to deliver the keynote address at Curry’s commencement, where he presented him with his badge. Not until Curry arrived at Quantico did he learn about Thompson’s stature within the bureau. When he retired in 1975, he was the assistant director of the FBI.
“He looked at my background and my assignments and so forth, and he just became interested, and I became interested in him,” Thompson said of his relationship with Curry.
After graduating from the academy, Curry was assigned to the Tampa field office. He spent only two years there before transferring to Birmingham, where he planted roots. The move served as a type of homecoming for Curry, who graduated high school in Montgomery before attending the University of Alabama.
The small size of the Birmingham field office — it was comprised of about 70 agents — provided Curry opportunities to cover many types of cases. He investigated everything from personal crimes, such as kidnappings and bank robberies, to violent crimes. He even served on the SWAT team.
But over the course of his career, Curry gained the most experience investigating white collar crimes — like fraud, scams and embezzlement — and public corruption cases.
He now applies what he learned during his former career to his role in political office. Specifically, he identified fact finding as a skill that has transferred seamlessly between the two positions.
In the bureau, Curry collected and corroborated information while he developed a case. As mayor, he has embarked on similar fact-finding missions to gather community input.
The ultimate goal, he said, is to make informed decisions.
“Let’s say there’s a complaint. Let’s get all the facts on it before we fly off the handle and do something that’s not right,” Curry said. “Let’s don’t spend money just for the sake of throwing money at a problem. Let’s get to the bottom of the problem.”
Curry identified the 27 Community Spaces Plan meetings that were held this past summer as an example of fact finding in action. He also pointed to the school board’s evaluation of the recently acquired Berry High School campus. Before making a decision on how to utilize the property, Curry said, the board tried to obtain all pertinent information.
Curry has called on his experience investigating public corruption as well. Many a time, he saw public officials misuse their power and engage in bribery, stripping them of their integrity.
That’s one trait the former FBI agent clings to, one he hopes will define his term in office.
“I do believe that the most important thing that a public official brings to the table is integrity,” he said, “and if you don’t have that, then you don’t need to be in public service.”
