School Opened: 2008

Elementary No. 48 was named Hemmenway Elementary School after John Edward Hemmenway. Mr. Hemmenway spent 31 years in education working for Cypress-Fairbanks I.S.D. prior to his retirement in May 2002. He was the first middle school choir director in the district; and served in that position for 30 years at Arnold Middle School and one year at Goodson Middle School.

Among other accolades, Mr. Hemmenway was one of five choral directors in Texas to receive the Choral Excellence Award given by the Texas Choral Directors Association in 2005. He was also selected as a district Wall of Fame recipient in 1999. Under Hemmenway’s direction, district choirs received more than 100 U.I.L. Sweepstakes awards. His choirs also received two invitations to perform at the Texas Music Educators Association Conference. Mr. Hemmenway has written and published three sight-reading books and a vocal arrangement of “Texas Our Texas,” which was published in a state-adopted textbook.

He and his wife, Marian, who retired from Ault Elementary School, have two children; Jason, a 1996 Cy-Fair High School graduate living in San Francisco, and Meredith, a 2001 Cy-Fair graduate who is currently serving as the Principal at Rennell Elementary School.