The girl who inspired one of Bob Dylan's signature songs has passed away.  Echo Helstrom Casey - Dylan's Hibbing High School girlfriend - has died at the age of 75.

Dylan (then known as Robert Zimmerman) and Helstrom attended junior prom together and dated the remainder of their school years before breaking up in 1958.  In the years after, Helstrom moved to California where she worked behind-the-scenes in the movie industry.

Her claim to fame and her connection to Dylan went unknown for many years until the early 1970's when a Dylan biographer made a trip to Hibbing to research the future Nobel Prize winner.  It was during that trip - and the book that followed called "Positively Main Street:  Bob Dylan's Minnesota" that the story of their relationship first made the light of day.

Dylan's first poetry was also recently added to the collection at the Minnesota Historical Society.

 

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