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. Born in Worden, Michigan, Rorabacher graduated from

Ypsilanti High School Ypsilanti High School (YHS) was a public school located in Ypsilanti Township, Michigan. () Ypsilanti High School (or 'Ypsi High,' as many people referred to it), was a comprehensive high school serving 9–12th grades, located on the western e ...

in 1924 and from the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

(

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal ...

) 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 Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

in 1937 and a PhD in English from the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univer ...

in 1942. She then joined the teaching faculty of

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and mone ...

in West Lafayette, Indiana, as a professor of English. 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."World Traveler to Give ‘Report from Hermosa." ''Chicago Homewood Flossmoor Star.'' Chicago, Illinois. April 30, 1961. Page 9. In 1952–53, Rorabacher returned to Japan as a Fulbright lecturer at Tokyo Women's University. 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. 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. 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. She died December 26, 1993, in Tampa, Florida.

Personal life

Louise 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.“Tourist Party Traveling to Antarctica.”
‘’The Christchurch Star.’’ Friday, February 5, 1971, p.1.

Bibliography

Non-Fiction

* ''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

* ''Style and Subject.'' Harper & Row, 1966. * ''Aliens in Their Land: The Aborigine in the Australian Short Story.'' Cheshire, 1968.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rorabacher, Louise Elizabeth American LGBT writers 1906 births 1993 deaths 20th-century American women educators 20th-century American educators Schoolteachers from Michigan American women biographers University of Michigan alumni 20th-century American biographers Foreign educators in Japan American textbook writers University of Illinois alumni American women short story writers Northwestern University alumni 20th-century American short story writers American expatriates in Japan 20th-century American women writers Writers from Michigan People from Washtenaw County, Michigan Western Carolina University faculty Purdue University faculty Burials in Michigan American expatriates in Taiwan American expatriates in Korea