HONORARY ALUMNI AWARDS

Helen Lee Henderson

To Helen Lee Henderson for her significant Henderson comes from a long line of Henderson has also been active as a vol- Since moving in 1995 to Washington, altruistic gifts to Penn State for the prominent and active alumni. Her uncle is unteer, hosting a reception for President D.C., Henderson has continued the HRH George Herman Deike Sr. Scholarship in Distinguished Alumnus George Deike Jr. , alumni, and friends at Foundation’s commitment to visual and the , the Penn ’31, ’48g, who was also a Penn State her Georgetown home and arranging for performing arts by supporting the 2002 State Blue Band Building, and the Palmer trustee. Her aunt, Anne Buechele Deike, visiting musical theatre students to have Sondheim Celebration, the 2005 Festival Museum of Art. was named a 1990 Honorary Alumna, and a special tour of the Kennedy Center for of China, five Royal Shakespeare her cousin, George Deike III ’57, ’67g, is a the Performing Arts and its eight theaters. Company appearances, and the upcoming two-time graduate. 2008 Kennedy Center Festival of Japan. Theatre has been a lifelong passion and Helen Lee Henderson’s grandfather was By presidential appointment, she serves Henderson herself has been active vocation for Henderson. She earned a Distinguished Alumnus George Herman as a Kennedy Center trustee and was with Penn State, donating family papers, bachelor’s degree in costume design Deike Sr. ’03, ’48g, former Penn State recently elected to its executive com- artifacts, and items of interest to the from Carnegie Mellon University and a trustee and Deike Building namesake. mittee. The National Gallery of Art’s College of Earth and Mineral Sciences master’s degree in technical theatre from Deike was also a Spanish American War video programs produced in conjunction and the Penn State Blue Band. Notably, the University of Pittsburgh. Her theatre bugler, who in 1899 founded the six- with major exhibits are underwritten by she donated to Penn State George experience has ranged from being box member drum and bugle corps that was the HRH Foundation. the forerunner of the Blue Band. Deike Deike’s bugle and band cap, both of office manager for the Asolo Theatre in also served as president of the Penn which are displayed in the Blue Band Sarasota, Fla., to co-producing the State Alumni Association, was one of the building lobby. London Savoy Theatre’s production of Sugar Babies starring Mickey Rooney and longest serving trustees, and was chairman She has also provided financial support Ann Miller. Henderson has helped many of the board at Penn State during the for the new Blue Band practice facility non-profit companies, whether serving Milton Eisenhower administration. through her role as executive director of as executive director for a season as she the HRH Foundation that her mother, Back then his granddaughter, Helen Lee, did with the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, Helen Ruth Henderson, established in accompanied her grandparents to campus, or assuming leadership positions on 1997. Henderson also contributed to the where they stayed at The boards of directors. At one point she scholarship fund for Schreyer Honors Inn, attended football games, and served on seven boards simultaneously in students in her grandfather’s memory experienced the enthusiastic spirit of the Pittsburgh area. She served as a and the HRH Foundation purchased and Penn State alumni. “I inherited my love Carnegie Mellon University trustee and donated the Thomas Hart Benton paint- of Penn State from my grandfather who on the board of directors of Mine Safety ing “The Farmer: Coal, Gas, Oil, Brick, 1933” was a lifelong devoted alumnus,” Appliances Company, a company on display in the Palmer Museum of Art. Henderson said. co-founded by her grandfather.