Helen Loring Grenfell, an American educator and penologist, born at Valparaiso, Chile. She was married to Edwin I Grenfell in 1889. After serving as superintendent of schools, she was made State superintendent of public instruction in Colorado, and during her three terms from 1899 to 1905 she greatly increased the school revenues, and she revised and annotated the school laws.
From 1909 to 1914 Mrs. Grenfell was commissioner of the State Penitentiary and Reformatory, with full control of the penal institutions of the State, being the only woman ever intrusted [sic] with the duties of such an office.