School Dedicated To Grinnell Native

LEMME, RENFROW

Posted By: Marilyn Holmes
Date: 9/25/2013 at 21:29:50

The Grinnell (IA) Herald-Register
Thursday, Oct. 8, 1970

SCHOOL DEDICATED
TO GRINNELL NATIVE

The dedication and open house at Helen Lemme Elementary School in Iowa City was held last Sunday.

The school was named after a Grinnell native who later became a local civil rights and community leader. Mrs. Lemme died at the age of 64 in a fire at her Iowa City home in 1968.

Mrs. Lemme, the former Helen Renfrow, was the first woman to receive Iowa City's "Woman of the Year" award. A member of the first Iowa City Human Relations Commission, she earlier worked as a research technician at the Medical Research Center, University Hospitals.

Helen Lemme Elementary School first opened its doors Aug. 31 with an enrollment of 225.

At Sunday's dedication, a portrait of Mrs. Lemme, painted by Mrs. Lynn Stiles of Iowa City, was unveiled.