Today, March 23, is the anniversary of the passing of Lillian Hormel.

In her honor I have re-printed an excerpt of one of the many tributes that was written about her life. We feel her presence and her legacy every day at the Hormel Historic Home and are happy to keep her home the welcoming beautiful place she created it to be.

“Wife of founder, Mother of president,

Mrs. George A. Hormel, whose history is intimately entwined with that of the Hormel company from its beginning, passed away, her husband and son and other members of the family nearby, at the home at Bel Air California, Saturday, 11:15 a.m. March 23.  Funeral services were the following Tuesday at Austin in the YWCA, her one-time home, and burial took place at Oakwood cemetery at Austin.

Mrs. Hormel was Miss Lillian Belle Gleason, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Henry A. Gleason of Blooming Prairie township.  She was born Aug 29, 1867.  In the late [18]’80’s, she was a teacher in the Franklin school at Austin and an organist at the Presbyterian Church, when George A. Hormel, new partner in a retail meat-market in Austin, met her and courted her.  The wedding took place Feb. 24, 1892, a few weeks after he started the packing-plant in the make-over creamery, across the Red Cedar.  He has recalled skating with his young wife-to-be on the river ice of 1891-92, and looking over at the building he was then remodeling, and talking with her about plans for it.  Thus, from the very beginning Lillian Belle Gleason Hormel has been a part of the story of the Hormel Company.

Mrs. Hormel enjoyed Austin and her friends and organizations here.  She maintained contact by the annual trips back with her husband, following their moving to California in 1927.  At their Bel-Air home, many friends from Austin, touring to California, visited and an account of Mrs. Hormel’s hospitality and of her flowers and garden, so much enjoyed by the visitors, was told movingly in memoriam, in the Austin Daily Herald, by her lifelong friend, Mrs. John Skinner.

At the funeral services, at Austin, Rev. Henry Hormel, one of the brothers of George A. Hormel, presided.  Mrs. Fayette Sherman and Mrs. Arthur Cipra sang, accompanied by Mrs. Roy Miller, at the piano.”

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What’s happening at the HHH

ASD Parent/Caregiver Network Event

6 p.m light supper; 6:15 p.m. presentation, Monday, April 1

Summer’s coming, are you ready? Learn about strategies and activities to help you and your family have a successful summer season. Free.

Stepping out for Autism Walk: Be an autism superhero

1-3 p.m., Sunday, April 14

Join us as we celebrate and fundraise for the ASD programming. Register by Thursday, April 4 to guarantee your T-shirt. $15 for adults; $10 for children. All proceeds stay in Austin to support programming for youth and families on the Autism Spectrum.