EDUCATION

Luther Grady Cooper was born July 10, 1902, in China Grove, North Carolina, to John Francis Cooper and Martha Jane Page Cooper.

Grady Graduated from Roanoke College, Roanoke, Virginia, in 1922, B.A. degree; from the University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, in 1924, M.A. degree; from The Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary in Columbia, South Carolina in 1925, B.D. degree; and he received a scholarship to attend Hartford Theological Seminary in Hartford, Connecticut, where, in 1927, he received his Ph.D. degree. He was ordained in 1927 in the North Carolina Synod.

In 1931, Dr. Grady Cooper received his S.T.M. degree from Union Theological Seminary in New York City, and in the Spring of 1936, he took a refresher course there.

In 1943-1944, Grady Cooper studied at the Kennedy School of Missions, the University of Religious Education Division of Hartford Theological Seminary in Hartford, Connecticut through the Hartford Foundation.

In 1977 Newberry College awarded the honorary D.D. degree to Dr. Luther Grady Cooper, Professor Emeritus there since 1973.

OUT LINE OF SERVICE

1928-1948 -- Missionary, American Lutheran Mission, United Lutheran Church in America, Shantung Province, China

1948-1953 -- Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Little Mountain, South Carolina

1953-1957 -- Trinity Lutheran Church, Elloree, South Carolina

1957-1973 -- Newberry College Professor of Philosophy, Religion and Greek, and Head of the Bible Department and Religious Education

1973-1991 -- Newberry College Professor Emeritus and Supply Pastor in Newberry County Churches.

COMMISSIONED AS MISSIONARY

Missionary to China, 1928-1948

Grady Cooper was commissioned as a missionary to China and began his ministry. He was located in Tsimo, one of the three main stations of the United Lutheran Church in America China Mission at that time. Tsingtao, a seaport city located on the coast of China, was the site of the main headquarters and one of the main stations from which missionaries went out into the towns and villages to preach and to do the work of the Mission among the people. The other main station was Kiaochow. The Language School was located in Peking.

The name "Tsingtao" means "Green Island": "Tsing" means "Green" and "Tao" means "Island".

The name "Peking" means "North Capitol": "Pe" or "Pei" or "Bei" means "North" ("Nan" means "South") and "King" or "Ching" means "Kingdom" or "Capitol".

The name "Tsimo" means "Black Ink": "Tsi" means "Dark" or "Black" and "Mo" means "Ink" or "Liquid" (?). Tsimo was located near a riverbed and sometime was flooded. A farmers' market was held every week and the place would be full of people.

The name "Kiaochow" means "Glue" (?) ...see page 87 of the United Lutheran Church in America Report for the Board of Foreign Missions.

From the United Lutheran Church in America Board of Foreign Missions Report for 1930: "The work of the past year has shown progress in most of the roads which the mission has attempted to travel. The Evangelistic Work has borne fruit in many places; Educational Work has been carried on as before, and Medical Work has established a center in the Tsingtao Hospital." ...and from the Cooper report: "The Tsimo District covers an area of approximately 60 square miles. This includes: 12 outstations, 12 chapels, 10 men evangelists, 5 women evangelists, 14 teachers, 8 boys' primary schools, and 4 boys' and girls' primary schools.... During the year we were blessed with an old Ford. It would have been an extremely great blessing but for two things. The year was an exceptionally wet one and in many of the places, ours was the first car to cover the territory.... Mr. W. Matzat died on September 5, 1930 ...beloved friend and co-worker (which) left a gap not easy to fill...."

In 1931: (from the Cooper report) "With the use of the old Ford, in spite of worries and troubles which it caused, the missionary was able to get out more often. It was our purpose to stop in nearly every village we passed through and bear witness to the One we serve and to preach His Word.... There were 55 Baptisms, adults and children, in all, before the end of the first of the year. 1931 rolled out as a new Ford rolled in to the Tsimo station, a Christmas Gift from my father."

NOTE: from the "general report": "1931 was marked by a closer co-operation of the missionaries of the three districts. The field was viewed as a whole, not as three different units, and each missionary had more concern for the field as a whole. This was due to the fact that the burden of responsibilities of the whole work was resting on young shoulders. Each felt the need of consultation with the others in the carrying on of the work."

1932 marked the opening of the Bible Institute for training women evangelists, and the beginning of the training school for nurses, along with an increased circulation of books and periodicals published by the Lutheran Book Concern in Hankow, and the erection of a missionary's residence in Tsingtao and other buildings.

From the report of L. Grady Cooper, Ph.D.: "In the fall, there was a very pleasant addition to the Tsimo Station in the arrival of the Reverend Ralph W. Sell and wife and infant son.... The outstanding feature of work in the Station this year was the opening of a street chapel inside the wall of Tsimo.... In a year's time, 63 souls have been added to the church in the Tsimo District alone."

1933 marked a shortage of funds, resulting in a slashing of the budget and curtailment of some of the work, but there was evidence of a spiritual awakening. Dr. Cooper reports "great progress in the educational work both in the Tsimo Middle School and in out-station primary schools. The new principal, Mr. Yang, proved to be an excellent principal. Plans were made for expansion; a building program was out-lined. Funds were hard to get, but some of the program was able to be started and carried out during the summer from certain balances which had been saved from the budget."

Also from Dr. Cooper in the 1933 report: " It has been my duty to do much itineration. Out of 242 days spent on the field, (including Sundays), parts of 101 days were spent in out-stations of Tsimo; parts of 46 days were spent in Tsingtao attending conferences and committee meetings, and attending to other business; 6 days were spent with Mr. Reinbrecht in the Kiaochow District; only 89 were spent in Tsimo. While I was on extended vacation in America, Messrs. Reinbrecht and Sell did quite a bit of itinerating in this district. During my absence, Mr. Sell carried on the work in all its phases. Since my return, he has taken charge of the work assigned to the missionary in connection with the Lutheran Middle School and the Tsimo Congregation.... More than 300 names were signed on by hearers, expressing a desire of studying to become Christians.... Sunday School chart pictures ...songs written on large banners...."

In the summer of 1934, Dr. Cooper spent nearly two weeks in Korea, partly on vacation and partly attending the General Assembly of the Korean Church and their celebration of their fiftieth anniversary of missionary labor in that little country.

Historically, 1935 was an important year because it marked the first year of the second decade in which the United Lutheran Church in America has been engaged in mission work in China.... The Women's Bible Institute graduated its first class. The Lutheran Hospital School of Nursing gave their first class the Nurses' Association of China examinations. Our second Chinese pastor was ordained. The Luther League voted to accept as their project for the next biennium the Tai Tung Chen Church Community Center.

Grady Cooper served the Kiaochow District in the year 1935, (see page 96 of the 1935 report)....

FAMILY

In the Spring of 1936, Grady Cooper took a furlough from the China field (allowed one and a half years for a "furlough"). He took a refresher course at Union Seminary in New York while he was on this furlough. On December 30, 1936, he married Miriam Roberta Greever in Columbia, South Carolina and they took a honeymoon trip to Florida, spending the first night in Savannah, Georgia.

Miriam Roberta Greever was born April 5, 1905, in Columbia, South Carolina, to Walton Harlowe Greever, Sr. and Nira Roberta Bruegel Greever.

On the first of August, 1937, Grady and Miriam set sail from New York for a vacation abroad before the furlough was over and they would go to China as husband and wife.

Somewhere near Algeria, the ship's doctor aboard their ship was called upon to treat someone from a ship that had been bombed by the Spanish. In Naples, Italy, the couple got off the ship and took a train to Rome, Italy and a train back. They then sailed across the Mediterranean Sea to Cairo, Egypt. (Miriam says she rode a camel between the pyramids and the Sphinx.) They were warned about pickpockets in the pyramids and that was a bit of an "eerie" tour. While on this tour, they met a Lutheran Missionary Doctor who was going from the Congo in Africa back to America, and he told them he would be staying at the Prince George Hotel in New York City (which is where Miriam's Father and step-mother were living at the time!). He had been sent to Africa by the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, since the United Lutheran Church did not have the money to do so at that time. This doctor told Miriam and Grady about a German Hostel in Jerusalem where they wound up staying during the two weeks they spent in Jerusalem. They were traveling at their leisure, with no reservations anywhere ahead of time and deciding each day what they would do the next day!) From their room upstairs (walked across the roof to their room at the hostel), they could see the Mount of Olives. When they indicated a desire to go to the Mount of Olives, the manager of the hostel went with them for their protection and for help with information, sort of as a guide.

From Jerusalem, they went to Capernaum to the Sea of Galilee in an automobile (which was sort like Taxi Service in the United States). They stayed at a Roman Catholic Hostel there. While they were eating supper in the dining area, Miriam's pocketbook was stolen (from the back of her chair where she had hung it) by the girl who was waiting on their table, but the manager got it and all its contents back for her. The girl was from a nearby orphanage. She lost her job and was sent back to the orphanage. Miriam worried about what would happen to her, but never heard any more from or about her.

The Cooper Couple was to visit India, briefly, and then go on to China to resume the mission work there, but while they were "in the middle of the Red Sea", they received a cablegram from the Mission Board that they were to land all their baggage and remain in India until conditions cleared up in China, since the Japanese had taken over the mission field there!

So, they landed in India around the first of September, 1937, and remained there until March, 1938, at which time Grady cabled for permission to return to China and was told to do so at his own risk (no official permission could be given), which they did.

While in India, Grady took trips over the mission area there. Miriam remained close to the hospital in Guntur, Madras Presidency, until January 17, 1938, on which date a daughter was born. She was named Kathryn Anne Cooper. Her doctor was Missionary Dr. Gladys Morgan. In February, 1938, Kathryn was baptized by the Reverend J. C. Peery, Missionary Pastor in India at that time.

FROM INDIA TO CHINA

In March of 1938, Grady Cooper called to see if permission would be granted to go on to China. He was told that no official permission could be given, but that a personal opinion was that it would be fairly safe. The responsibility would be his own. The tickets on the Italian line (ship) ended in Shanghai, so a British ship was taken up to Tsingtao, arriving in April of 1938. From the British ship, passengers had to get off on sampans (skiffs, used in the river and harbor traffic of China and Japan, one of a variety of vessels called Chinese Junks, a type of sailboat). A lady named Miss Lydia Reich, R.N., who was in charge of hospital work with Miss Mae Rohlfs, R.N., met the sampans and told the passengers to keep on going and to pay no attention to the Japanese who met them there with bayonets pointed at them. The Japanese could not speak English and the missionaries could not speak Japanese... and so they "just kept going" and the Lord went with them back to the missionary compound.

The Japanese had troops on trains all night. Chinese guerrilla soldiers would blow up the tracks. In response, the Japanese would burn the nearest villages. For years Dr. Cooper had been using a bicycle to get out to the villages in the Mission Area. Going by one of the villages that had been bombed by the Japanese because of the Chinese guerrilla soldiers (not Nationalists) who were active in the area, he stopped to look around. Suddenly he was captured by a group of the Chinese guerrillas and was taken to an old Chinese Temple where he was interrogated for several hours. Since he was able to speak the Chinese, Dr. Cooper was able to carry on a conversation with his captors and to explain his mission. Finally, the guerrilla soldiers escorted him to the church to which he was going and warned him that it was not safe to be traveling in that area because not everyone would know who he was and might not ask.

From Rev. L. Grady Cooper's United Lutheran Church in America Board of Foreign Missions Report for the Tsimo District, 1938: "Due to the fact that Tsimo could easily be cut off from Tsingtao, it was felt advisable for my family to live in Tsingtao, where Mrs. Cooper could have better facilities for caring for our four-months-old baby, and could also have a Peking language teacher. I spent as much time as was necessary at Tsimo and our evangelists and workers came regularly to the main station, Tsimo, to talk over the work and to receive their monthly budget." Later - Mr. W. Matzat had gotten a motorcycle which Dr. Cooper used. (Mr. Matzat had died on September 5, 1930).

On September 21, 1939, John Walton Cooper was born in the Tsingtao Lutheran Hospital in Tsingtao, China. Kathryn Anne was being cared for largely by the Chinese Ahmma, Chiang ta Tsao, while Miriam and John Walton were in the hospital. It had been a difficult birth; the baby was born breach and the recovery period was an extended one for the mother.

From the United Lutheran Church in America Board of Foreign Missions Report for 1940: "The President of our Mission, Dr. L. Grady Cooper, has served as chairman of the International Relief Committee at Tsingtao. He also has functioned as the treasurer in China for funds sent by the Lutheran World Convention from America for the relief of Lutheran Missions throughout China...." "Urged by the American consuls in Tsingtao and Shanghai, wives and children of missionaries were given permission to return to America. Mrs. L. Grady Cooper with her two children and later Mrs. Ralph Sell with her two children and still later Rev. Ralph Sell took advantage of this permission and are now in America. For the work's sake, the men missionaries were advised by the Board of Foreign Missions to remain at their posts as long as possible. The single women missionaries, we understand, at their own volition, also decided to remain at work as long as possible, one of them continuing her important work in charge of the hospital, despite the fact that her furlough is long overdue."

In November of 1940, then, Mrs. L. Grady Cooper, Kathryn Anne and John Walton Cooper left aboard an American ship, the WASHINGTON, headed for America: California, in fact. From there they traveled across country to New York City. Kathryn did not take the travel very well and became seasick from time to time. It did not bother John Walton at all. Kathryn would run away from the room and get lost, stand where she was when she realized that she WAS lost and yell until someone took her back to where she was supposed to be. She got the repatation of "little girl who runs away". It took about 11 days to cross the ocean.

WORLD WAR II HOSTAGE

When Pearl Harbor was attacked by Japanese on December 7, 1941, signaling the outbreak of war between Japan and the United States, all communications with the mission ceased and no money or messages could be sent from the United States to the China Mission. Japanese came around the mission before the missionaries were aware that Pearl Harbor had been bombed and World War II was in progress. They picked up 40 hostages. Dr. Cooper was one of them. They were taken to a Chinese Jail Compound (a large building). They slept on the floor for a while until they were allowed to have mattresses brought in from the mission. It was a cold building. There were cracks in the windows. An old Jewish man took sick and died. Those missionaries who were not taken as hostages were kept under house arrest and closely watched and guarded. There were Japanese guards who guarded the imprisoned hostages and they were not allowed to talk at first. The Japanese had no means to feed the prisoners, but the people who were under house arrest were allowed to go out an hour a day and they were allowed to bring food from home for the hostages, finally. They had to wear arm bands to identify their nationality. The Americans wore "A" bands. About Christmas, 1941, the Japanese took over the British residences and let the prisoners live there and bring in their mattresses.

One of the guards (Corporal of the Guard) could speak Chinese and became friendly with Dr. Cooper. The guards had had saddist training and were rather rough with some of the people. If a Chinese went by and did not salute, they brought him in and beat him.

Once Dr. Cooper discovered one of the guards lying asleep on a platform with his legs sticking out. Dr. Cooper found a piece of string or rope and tied his legs together. Chinese Puppet Police were made to serve the Japanese. One of these came in and woke up the guard and told him that a high-ranking officer was coming. Dr. Cooper untied the guard, and miraculously was able to get away with his "prank".

The hostages were not able to send or receive any mail.

In the summer of 1942 the Reverend Dr. L. Grady Cooper and the Reverend and Mrs. Malcolm D. Shutters were repatriated and allowed to return to the United States in exchange for Japanese prisoners (hostages) of the United States.

Dr. Cooper was taken (in August of 1942) from Tsingtao to Shanghai and put on an Italian ship, which took him and the others through the Straits of Malaya to the East Side of Africa, occupied by the Portugese. From there they changed to another ship (the Gripsholm), and went to Rio De Janeiro and then to New York.

Japanese prisoners were brought from New York on a Swedish Ship to "Neutral Territory" in Africa, were put onto the ship that Dr. Cooper and the other passengers had gotten off of, to go back to Japan.

RETURN TO THE MISSION FIELD

In September of 1943, the Cooper Family moved to Hartford, Connecticut, where they lived in the dormitory at the Kennedy School of Missions at Hartford Theological Seminary. On May 21, 1944, Virginia Roberta Cooper was born in Hartford Connecticut. (That day was also "graduation day".)

Furlough Missionary Cottages as they looked in the summer of 2000

In the Fall of 1944, the family moved to Ventnor, New Jersey, to the missionary housing area, while Dr. Cooper spoke around the country about the China Mission. In 1945, Dr. Cooper returned to the Mission field to which he had made a commitment to serve another term. The family was not able to go with him because the baby, Roberta, had a digestive disease called celiac, and the doctors said that she could not survive in the Orient. She was under the care of doctors at Childrens' Hospital in New York, where she was taken periodically for check-ups. This disease could not be cured, but with proper care, it could be (and was) outgrown.

RETURN TO THE STATES

The rest of the family moved to a little yellow bungalow in Eau Claire, Columbia, South Carolina, where they lived until Dr. Cooper returned from China and received a call from Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Little Mountain, South Carolina, which he accepted.

In 1953, Dr. Cooper received a call to Trinity Lutheran Church in Elloree, South Carolina, and the family moved again.

In 1957, Dr. R. A. Goodman retired from the Bible Department of Newberry College in Newberry, South Carolina, and the College called Dr. Luther Grady Cooper as Professor and Head of the Bible Department. Once again the family moved, and Dr. and Mrs. Grady Cooper lived, worked and retired in Newberry, South Carolina.

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