Muriell "Mimi" Royce Orme  '42  the famed co-founder of The Orme School outside Mayer, died from congestive heart failure April 19, 2009 in Prescott.  She was 85.  Orme passed away at Samaritan Village Rehabilitation Center in Prescott where she had been recuperating after spending nearly three weeks in the hospital.

"Mimi," as she was affectionately known, helped found and build Orme School with her husband, Charles Orme Jr, in the years after World War II.  Orme Jr. died nearly two years ago in May 2007.  In early 1945, Mimi met her future husband when she came to Orme to work as his secretary.  They married later that year, shortly before Orme Jr. became the school's headmaster.

Stuart Rosebrook, a close family friend and the school's advancement, communications and alumni consultant, said Charles and Mimi built Orme School into one of the most prominent boarding schools and summer camps in the West.

Mimi was born in Cleveland, Ohio, to Paul Royce and Marjorie Stranahan Royce on July 15, 1923.  A graduate of Sawyer Business College in Pasadena, California, she grew up and attended public schools in San Marino and South Pasadena.

Mimi spent her first years at the school as secretary and bookkeeper.  In the lower school, she taught reading, writing, and arithmetic.  At the high school, she taught music appreciation, modeling, typing, shorthand, and directed the sextet.  Mimi began The Orme School's alumni "Bulletin," which the school still publishes annually as a way to stay in touch with alumni. 

After retiring in 1987, and until recently, Mimi remained active as an ambassador and hostess of the school.  In her role as the wife of the headmaster, she traveled extensively with Charles to maintain strong alumni relations and admissions for both the school and its camp.

A city girl by birth and cowgirl by marriage, Mimi was a member of the Orme Ranch Board of Directors, serving as its treasurer for 45 years.  Mimi also was a long-term member of the Phoenix Junior League, the Phoenix Country Club and St. Luke's Board of Visitors.  In 2004 the school honored Mimi as a "Distinguished Alumna,"  In her acceptance speech, she said, "I have had an interesting life.  I am most content to be retired and just watch the world go by and watch our grandchildren develop.  It has been a good life."

Survivors include her son Charles "Chip" H. Orme III of New York; son Paul R. Orme and daughter-in-law Shawn of Mayer; and grandchildren Charles, Alexandra, Kathryn, Lauren, and Mallory.