Elementary No. 48 was named Hemmenway Elementary School after John Edward Hemmenway.

Hemmenway spent 31 years in education working for CFISD 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.

He was named one of five choral directors in Texas to receive the Choral Excellence Award given by the Texas Choral Directors Association in 2005, and was selected as a Wall of Fame recipient in 1999. Under Hemmenway’s direction, district choirs received more than 100 UIL Sweepstakes awards, and his choirs were invited twice to sing at the Texas Music Educators Association Conference. Hemmenway has written and published three sight-reading books and a vocal arrangement of “Texas Our Texas,” which was published in the state-adopted textbook.

Hemmenway and his wife, Marian, who works at 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 teaches music at Black Elementary.

Hemmenway Elementary School is under construction at West Little York and Fry roads, and will open in August 2008.