Helen Thatcher Loring Grenfell circa 1920

Helen Loring Grenfell (April 29, 1863 — July 25, 1935) was an American educator,

suffragist Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...

, and

clubwoman The woman's club movement was a social movement that took place throughout the United States that established the idea that women had a moral duty and responsibility to transform public policy. While women's organizations had always been a par ...

. She was Colorado's Superintendent of Public Instruction from 1899 to 1905.

Early life

Helen Thatcher Loring was born in Valparaiso, Chile, the daughter of American parents Charles Loring and Mary Frances Loring. Her father was in Chile on business at the time of her birth there. She moved to Colorado as a child with her parents. She trained to teach in New York.Celia Osgood Peterson
"School Men of the Hour: Helen L. Grenfell"
''American Education'' (January 1903): 274-275.

Career

Helen Loring taught school in Colorado from her teen years. She was appointed superintendent of schools for

Gilpin County, Colorado Gilpin County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado, smallest in land area behind only the City and County of Broomfield. As of the 2020 census, the population was 5,808. The county seat is Central City. The county was formed in 1 ...

in 1895. She was elected Colorado's state Superintendent of Public Instruction in 1898, and re-elected to two more two-year terms, serving through 1905. She was elected vice-president of the National Educational Association (NEA) in 1902. She was defeated in her run for a third re-election in 1904, by Katherine L. Craig. In 1909 she published a report, ''The Constitution of the Ideal School Board and the Citizen's Duty Toward it''. As an elected official, she toured nationally lecturing in favor of suffrage. "We have come to the time when we must feel that the word ''chivalry'' belongs to the past," she told audiences, "I believe you will not misunderstand me when I say that if you will give us ''justice'', it will mean a great deal more than chivalry ever did." She served on Colorado's prison board for two terms. She was a member of the state forestry association and on the board of trustees for Denver's children's hospital. In 1920, she was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention. She was chair of the Women's Auxiliary of the Retail Clerks International Protective Association. She also spoke in favor of better compensation for teachers. Grenfell made a report to

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...

on the Ludlow Massacre, as vice president of the Women's Law and Order League of Colorado. Her report was more critical of the strikers and more aligned with the governor's actions than many other accounts from the event.

Personal life

Helen Loring married Edwin I. Grenfell, a railroad executive, in 1889. She died in 1935, aged 71 years, from injuries sustained in a fall several months earlier."Helen Grenfell is Dead from March Injury"
''Greeley Daily Tribune'' (July 26, 1935): 7. via

Newspapers.com Ancestry.com LLC is an American genealogy company based in Lehi, Utah. The largest for-profit genealogy company in the world, it operates a network of genealogical, historical records, and related genetic genealogy websites. In November 2018, ...

Her husband wrote a biography after her death, ''A Brief Sketch of the Life and Works of Helen Thatcher Loring Grenfell'' (1939).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grenfell, Helen Loring 1863 births 1935 deaths Suffragists from Colorado State superintendents of public instruction of the United States People from Valparaíso School superintendents in Colorado 19th-century American educators 20th-century American educators People from Gilpin County, Colorado 19th-century American politicians 19th-century American women politicians 20th-century American politicians 20th-century American women politicians Accidental deaths from falls 19th-century American women educators 20th-century American women educators American expatriates Expatriates in Chile