Grace Taylor Rodenbough

Grace Pemberton Taylor Rodenbough (October 5, 1897 – January 8, 1967) was an American educator and politician. She was elected to the North Carolina House of Representatives in 1953 and was the first woman from Stokes County to serve in a state office.

Early life and education Rodenbough was born Grace Pemberton Taylor on October 5, 1897 in Danbury, North Carolina to James Spotswood Taylor, a wealthy tobacco farmer, and Nellie Pemberton Moon, a Quaker and daughter of the evangelist and missionary Mary Moon Meredith. Her father was the second-largest grower of fluecured tobacco in the world. In 1948, she was appointed schools supervisor for Stokes County. During her last term in office, in 1965, she served as chairwoman of the Committee on the Statues of Women. She focused on education and agriculture and was a supporter of Governors William B. Umstead, Luther H. Hodges, and Terry Sanford. She initially supported L. Richardson Preyer in the 1964 gubernatorial election but later endorsed Dan K. Moore.

Personal life On November 12, 1929, she married Rex Exum Stuart and divorced him on November 24, 1936. She married a second time, to Stanley Leigh Rodenbough Jr., on August 4, 1947. They purchased and restored the Covington House near Walnut Cove. Upon her second marriage, she converted to Presbyterianism.

Rodenbough was active in civic endeavors and was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, the United Daughters of the Confederacy, North Carolina Literary and Historical Association, North Carolina Society for the Preservation of Antiquities, and the American Association of University Women.

She died on January 8, 1967 at the Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem.