Helen Howarth Lemmel

Helen Howarth Lemmel was born in Wardle, England, on November 14, 1863, and emigrated with her family to the United States while young. Her father became a Methodist circuit preacher, and music was part of her early church life. Lemmel developed as a singer, pianist, teacher, composer, and writer. She lived in Seattle for a period, worked as music critic for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, studied music in Germany, and later toured in concerts and on the Chautauqua circuit. She also taught vocal music at Moody Bible Institute and participated in evangelistic music associated with Billy Sunday.

In 1918 Lemmel encountered Focussed, a devotional booklet by English artist and missionary Lilias Trotter. Trotter’s call to direct the whole spiritual gaze toward Christ prompted Lemmel to create both words and music for a hymn she titled “The Heavenly Vision.” Later accounts preserve Lemmel’s testimony that the refrain came to her with unusual immediacy while she consciously developed the stanzas.

The hymn circulated before entering songbooks and eventually became widely known as “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus.” Lemmel continued writing songs and materials for Christian ministry and spent her later years in Seattle, where she was associated with Ballard Baptist Church. She died there on November 1, 1961.