Donna Reed Museum gets a new look

The western Iowa museum dedicated to a Hollywood star is getting, well, a face lift. The Donna Reed Museum in her hometown of Denison will reopen June 25th with a dedication ceremony. Dignitaries for the event will include surviving members of Reed’s family. Museum director Joel Franken says much effort has gone into revitalizing the building. He says they’ve been spending eight or nine months to refurbish the office and have redone it with vintage colors.Franken says the refurbished museum will feature art and artifacts from the actress’ personal and professional lives. He says it’ll be stage one of the museum, a sort of treat of things to come.Franken says visitors and passers-by will notice a few items on display commemorating some significant moment’s in Reed’s life. The front window will include enlargements from the “Donna Reed Show” and two of her movies, “From Here to Eternity” for which she received and Oscar, and “It’s a Wonderful Life.”The rededication of the museum coincides with the annual Donna Reed Festival for the Performing Arts, underway June 21 through 26. Franken says one new exhibit stands out from the others.It’s a collection of more than 80 letters from Reed’s penpal of 48 years, Violet Lindsey. Oddly, Reed and her longtime penpal never met face-to-face and never talked on the phone.