Laura Lu Scherer Copenhaver (August 29, 1868 – December 18, 1940) was an American businesswoman. Copenhaver was a native of

Marion Marion may refer to: People *Marion (given name) *Marion (surname) *Marion Silva Fernandes, Brazilian footballer known simply as "Marion" *Marion (singer), Filipino singer-songwriter and pianist Marion Aunor (born 1992) Places Antarctica * Mari ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

, where her father, the Reverend John Jacob Scherer, was the first president of Marion College. She was a writer, collaborating with her younger sister, Katharine Killinger Scherer Cronk, on fiction, poetry, and church pageants; her poem "Heralds of Christ" became a popular hymn. Copenhaver was the director of information for the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation, and in that role advanced the agricultural economy of southwestern Virginia. In this role she emphasized cooperative marketing of farm products, and herself was involved in the same practice by producing textiles out of her home, Rosemont, hiring local women to craft coverlets based on traditional patterns, using locally produced wool. Copenhaver pressed her local Women's Missionary Society to establish the Konnarock Training School, which offered entry-level academic and religious education to children who could not attend the regular schools, and which opened in 1925. Copenhaver was the mother-in-law of

Sherwood Anderson Sherwood Anderson (September 13, 1876 – March 8, 1941) was an American novelist and short story writer, known for subjective and self-revealing works. Self-educated, he rose to become a successful copywriter and business owner in Cleveland and ...

, and was long active as a lay leader in the

Lutheran Church Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

. After her death her sister Minerva May Scherer headed Rosemont Industries for two decades; in 1960 some of her children incorporated it as Laura Copenhaver Industries, Inc. Copenhaver was one of the

Virginia Women in History Virginia Women in History was an annual program sponsored by the Library of Virginia that honored Virginia women, living and dead, for their contributions to their community, region, state, and nation. The program began in 2000 under the aegis of th ...

inducted by the

Library of Virginia The Library of Virginia in Richmond, Virginia, is the library agency of the Commonwealth of Virginia. It serves as the archival agency and the reference library for Virginia's seat of government. The Library moved into a new building in 1997 and i ...

in 2007.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Copenhaver, Laura 1868 births 1940 deaths American Lutherans 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American businesswomen American women philanthropists People from Marion, Virginia Businesspeople from Virginia Philanthropists from Virginia 19th-century American women writers 20th-century American women writers Writers from Virginia American women hymnwriters