(La Porte County, IN) - A bridge in La Porte County will be named after a judge still helping kids go to college even after she died over 30 years ago.

 

In 1990, Susan Hemminger became the first female judge in La Porte County history.

 

Before cancer took her life less than three years later at age 34, she used her assets to create a foundation for providing annual scholarships of up to $5,000 apiece for La Porte County students.  

 

La Porte County Deputy Prosecutor Atley Price, who helped get the scholarship fund started, said an average of eight to 12 scholarships are awarded by the foundation annually.

 

He asked the county commissioners yesterday for their support in naming the bridge after the late judge.

 

“We’re now rapidly approaching two million dollars in benefits for scholarships,” he said.

 

The commissioners voted in favor of the request.

 

The bridge to be named after Hemminger is on Michigan Boulevard in Michigan City over Trail Creek.

The naming of the bridge is under a program started several years ago to honor distinguished residents of La Porte County from the past.

 

One of the former residents, late Oakland A’s owner Charlie Finley, has a bridge on Johnson Road near the farm he used to live at with his name on it.