The Bell Tower of Fame Award recognizes people whose professional or personal accomplishments internationally, nationally or statewide bring great pride to Greene County. They must have resided in Greene County for a period of time during their lifetime. The awards will be presented Friday at 6 pm on the Bell Tower Plaza at opening ceremonies of the 2021 Bell Tower Festival. This year’s recipients are:
Michelle Book
Michelle Book had already had an outstanding international career as global compliance manager at John Deere Financial and senior manager of international community relations and president of the Pioneer International Foundation at DuPont Pioneer when she became president and CEO of Food Bank of Iowa in 2016.
Little did she know she would be leading the state’s largest hunger fighting and food rescue organization through the nation’s pandemic in 2020 and 2021.
The non-profit is a free and reduced cost food distributor providing nutrition for Iowa children, families and seniors.
Michelle became the public face across the state for distributing millions of pounds of food, working with almost 650 smaller frontline partner agencies such as schools, pantries and homeless shelters. In October 2020, the food bank distributed a record level of more than 2-million pounds of food, equating to almost 1.8 million meals. Under her leadership, the food bank hosted 10 drive-through food distributions, providing food to more than 12,000 families.
She also recruited churches in Des Moines to hold drive-through food distributions near schools that had closed their own on-site food pantries because of COVID-19 concerns. Her organization has been ranked among the Top Five Most Influential Non-profits in 2021 by the Business Record.
She is a 1979 graduate of Jefferson High School and a 1983 graduate of Iowa State University with a degree in business administration. She is a Certified Public Accountant and a Certified Internal Auditor.
She was named a Des Moines Woman of Influence in 2014 and was among the 2021 Top 25 Influential Business Leaders by the Business Record. She has received an alumni achievement award from Iowa State University.
She is a highly sought national speaker about food insecurity. She serves on various non-profit boards such as the Salisbury House Foundation and the Brenton Arboretum and on US Bank’s Advisory Council. She lives in Des Moines and was married to the recently deceased Woodward (Woody) Brenton. She has two children.
Thomas Morain (deceased)
His nomination said, “Tom Morain was a Renaissance man, a scholar, musician, athlete, teacher, organizer, executive, preacher, brother, husband and father.” And, in his October 2020 obituary, Tom Morain was described as a man who did ordinary things with extraordinary love and ended up accomplishing extraordinary things as well.
A graduate of Jefferson High School in 1965, Tom attended Graceland College in Lamoni, graduated with a doctorate in American Studies from the University of Iowa and began his noteworthy Iowa history career teaching at Iowa State University. He was sought out by students, faculty, the public and the news media for his expertise.
From 1981-1995, he was the director of research and interpretation at Living History Farms in Des Moines and is credited with creating the farms’ internship program and the most popular public historic dinners.
Tom wrote or edited several notable books about Iowa history including Prairie Grass Roots, an award-winning account of Jefferson, Iowa during the early 20th century, His other books, Iowa Past and Present (co-written with Dorothy Schwieder and Lynn Nielsen), and Family Reunion: Essays on Iowa, are used extensively by historians.
He led the State Historical Society for six years, receiving the prestigious Petersen-Harlan Lifetime Achievement Award for his devotion to sharing history with Iowans of all ages. He also received the 2002 Distinguished Service Award from Humanities Iowa.
He returned to Graceland University in 2001 as a professor and liaison with state government and was recognized as a global ambassador for the school.
He and his wife Vikki have two sons. Vikki currently resides in Lamoni and will accept his posthumous Bell Tower of Fame Award.
