Helen Renfrow Lemme was born on February 25, 1904, in Grinnell, Iowa. She was the oldest of six children and helped take care of her brothers and sisters. To help with expenses she kept house for several families in Grinnell. She graduated from Grinnell High School and received a $5.00 gold piece for scholarship. In 1928 she graduated from the State University of Iowa, supporting herself by cooking, sewing and tutoring. She worked as a research technician in the Department of Internal Medicine. In 1929 she married Allyn Lemme. They had two sons named Paul and Lawrence.

Helen Lemme did community volunteering for the rest of her life. She provided room and board for many African-American students attending the University of Iowa. She was an inspiration to those students and stressed the importance of a good education. John I. Jackson, who grew up in Iowa City and played football at City High School in the 1950's wrote in a letter to Lemme School,

At a time when there was reluctant acceptance of black students in the University of Iowa dormitories, Mr. and Mrs. Lemme provided room and board for numerous black students and athletes who came to Iowa City from nearly everywhere in the United States. Some of the students lived in the upstairs of the Lemme's huge five bedroom house which was located at 603 South Capitol Street. In addition, there were approximately a dozen students who lived in an adjoining structure called the Annex.

Since most of the room and boarders were Iowa Hawkeye football players or track participants, Mrs. Lemme had to prepare daily meals of great proportions in order to meet the rigorous training demands of those always hungry athletes."

Helen Lemme lived in Iowa City for forty years. She was an active member of the Human Relations Committee. She served as secretary of the Johnson County Advisory Board of the Hawkeye Area Community Action Program. She also held seats on the board of the Iowa City League of Women's Voters, the YMCA and the Girl Scouts. In 1946 she was elected president of the Iowa City League of Women Voters, and in 1955 she was the first recipient of the Iowa City " Woman of the Year " award.

Helen Renfrow Lemme died on December 15, 1968, from inhaling smoke during a fire in her home. She died at the age of 64.

In 1970, a new school was named after Helen Lemme for her outstanding achievements.

Helen Lemme served on many committees. In addition to those mentioned above, she was a member of the Black Caucus of the Democratic Party, served on the board of the Council-Manager Association of Iowa City and was president of the Iowa City Area Council of Churches.

Helen Lemme was a research technician in the Department of Internal Medicine at the College of Medicine of the University of Iowa.

Helen and Allyn on their 20th wedding anniversary

Home of Helen and Allyn Lemme located at 603 South Capitol Street in Iowa City.

We dedicate the Lemme Web Page to Helen Lemme's grandson, Allyn Lemme, because of his pride in our school, and because of his dedication. He helped organize Lemme's 25th anniversary celebration which many of the Lemme family attended. He visited Lemme on many occasions and spoke to the students about Helen Lemme and his family. He donated many family photographs and made a memory book of letters from people who knew Helen Lemme. He died tragically in a car accident in 1998.