Louise Elizabeth Rorabacher (April 10, 1906 – December 26, 1993) was an author and editor, producing three college textbooks, two biographies and two collections of Australian short stories.
Louise Elizabeth Rorabacher | |
|---|---|
| Born | April 10, 1906 Worden, Michigan |
| Died | December 26, 1993 (aged 87) Tampa, Florida |
| Occupation | Author, professor |
| Nationality | American |
| Period | 20th century |
| Genre | Non-fiction |
Born in Worden, Michigan, Rorabacher graduated from Ypsilanti High School in 1924 and from the University of Michigan (Phi Beta Kappa) in 1931 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. After graduation she taught high school in St. Louis, Michigan, then earned a Master of Arts degree from Northwestern University in 1937 and a PhD in English from the University of Illinois in 1942. She then joined the teaching faculty of Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, as a professor of English.[1]
In 1946 she took a leave from Purdue to serve with the Fifth Army Air Corps in Korea teaching college English to American occupation forces. In 1947 she transferred to Japan as an administrator of the women's program under the auspices of the Eighth Army's military occupation in Yokohama, where she taught the concepts of democracy to Japanese women.[2]
In 1952–53, Rorabacher returned to Japan as a Fulbright lecturer at Tokyo Women's University.[3] On her way home she made a trip around the world which included visits to Hong Kong, Siam, India, Pakistan, Lebanon, Egypt, Greece, Spain and Portugal.[2]
In 1956 and again in 1959 she served terms as a member of the Purdue team at Cheng Kung University In Taiwan. She also served on the Washington. D.C., staff of the American Association of University Professors in 1956–57. Her special instructional field at Purdue was fiction and her special research was in the field of 19th century fiction.[2] She took early retirement from Purdue in 1964 and joined the faculty of Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina, where she taught until her retirement in 1969.
Personal life
editLouise met her life partner Caroline Hester Lawrence (1898–1999) in the 1960s. They lived together in North Carolina and then Florida until Louise's death in 1993. They are buried together in Worden Cemetery in Salem, Michigan.[6][7][8]
Bibliography
editNon-Fiction
edit- Assignments in Exposition. Harper & Row, 1946.
- A Concise Guide to Composition. Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1956.
- Two Ways Meet: Stories of Migrants in Australia. F. W. Cheshire, 1963.
- Marjorie Barnard and M. Barnard Eldershaw. New York, NY: Twayne Publishers, 1973.
- Frank Dalby Davidson. Twayne Publishers, 1979.
Editor
edit- Style and Subject. Harper & Row, 1966.
- Aliens in Their Land: The Aborigine in the Australian Short Story. Cheshire, 1968.
References
edit- ^ Seymour Daily Tribune. Volume LXVIII No. 261. Seymour, IN. November 2, 1950. Page 9.
- ^ a b c "World Traveler to Give ‘Report from Hermosa." Chicago Homewood Flossmoor Star. Chicago, Illinois. April 30, 1961. Page 9.
- ^ "Recipients of Awards Under Public Law 584 (79th Cong.), During the Calendar Year 1952." "Report on the operations of the Department of State (Under Public Law 584). Message from the President of the United States transmitting a report by the Secretary of State on the operations of the Department of State under section 2 of Public Law 584, Seventy-ninth Congress, as required by that law. March 30, 1953. – Referred to the Committee on Government Operations and ordered to be printed." Serial Set Vol. No.11689. Report: H.Doc. 115. Monday, March 30, 1953. Page 55.
- ^ Obituary." Accessed April 25, 2017.
- ^ The Tampa Tribune. Florida. January 20, 1994.
- ^ Oral history from her grandniece Joanne Rorabacher
- ^ The Sylvia Herald and Rualite. Thursday, October 13, 1977. Page 4.
- ^ “Tourist Party Traveling to Antarctica.” ‘’The Christchurch Star.’’ Friday, February 5, 1971, p.1.