Longtime Grinnell resident to receive Grinnell College Alumni award

GRINNELL — A Grinnell College Alumni and author of “No One Is Better Than You,” the story of Edith Renfrow Smith, has been named recipient of a 2025 Alumni Award.

Monique McLay Shore, a 1990 graduate of Grinnell College, is one of 14 recipients of the 2025 Alumni Awards as chosen by the Grinnell College Alumni Council.

The Alumni Award recognizes individuals who embody Grinnell College’s mission of lifetime learning and service. Nominated by their classmates and peers, recipients have distinguished themselves by their service to their careers, their community AND the college.

Shore and the other 13 recipients will be honored at Reunion 2025, slated for May 29 — June 1 at the college.

Shore’s dedication to the Grinnell community and preserving its history is unmatched. She recently retired after 33 years of working for the Stewart/Drake Community Library in Grinnell, where she began the Poweshiek History Preservation Project in 2013 to document and digitize the history of the town of Grinnell, Grinnell College and Poweshiek County.

The project was the result of a state library grant to encourage collaboration between different types of libraries.

“Through this collaboration, we not only digitized the majority of photographs in the Drake Community Library archives, we also were able to digitize thousands of items contributed from area individuals and preserve that information for the community,” noted Shore.

“Among the many treasures that were preserved were photographs and other documents contributed by Edith Renfrow Smith, the first Black woman to graduate from Grinnell College in 1937. She is a 1932 graduate of Grinnell High School.

“Through the PHPP outreach, Renfrow Smith came to Grinnell in 2015, when she was 101, and brought with her the first batch of personal photographs,” said Shore.

“We continued to correspond over the coming years. Those materials and that relationship were the foundation that led to the work of Team Renfrow starting in the summer of 2021.”

Team Renfrow was established in collaboration with Grinnell College professor Tamara Beauboeuf-LaFontant, which brought visibility and recognition to the 110-year-old Edith Renfrow Smith.

To further raise awareness about Renfrow Smith’s incredible life, Shore wrote and published the 62-page children’s book, “No One Is Better Than You,” which was released in January 2024.

Shore started working on the Renfrow book in January 2023 and took the full shipment from the printer one year later in January 2024.

Since the book was released, more than 1,400 copies have been sold, mostly through the Pioneer Bookstore in Grinnell. The book is also available at the Book Vault in Oskaloosa, Prairie Lights in Iowa City and online.

In addition, nearly 500 books have been donated to public and school libraries, mostly in Iowa but many to other parts of the country as well. The Pioneer Bookstore will continue to have the book available for the foreseeable future.

Shore first came to Grinnell as a college student in 1986 and fell in love with the community. She and husband, Craig, a native of Des Moines, have one daughter, Moraine, a 2018 graduate of Grinnell High School and a 2022 graduate of Grinnell College.

“It is an incredible honor to be recognized by my fellow Grinnell College alumni as one of the 14 alumni award recipients for 2025,” said Shore. “To have my passion for Grinnell and local history valued and recognized is a wonderful cap to my 33-year career with the library.”

Others recognized with alumni awards are Kenton Clymer, class of 1965; Jeri Langham, 1965; Michael Cullen, 1975; Bill Ferguson, 1975; Renee Garrick, 1975; Amy Fraenkel, 1985; May-lee Chai, 1989; Clint Korver, 1989; Kent Koth, 1990; Juan Castano, 2000; Gabrielle Conecker, 2000; and Caitlin Davies, 2009.