Cooperative Living June 2021 - 6

Brights
Scholarship Awards
Rachel Noonan is the first winner
of a $1,000 college scholarship
named in honor of the late Bill
Sherrod, the longtime editor of
Cooperative
Living. She is from
Salisbury, Md.,
attends Delmar
High School and
is planning to
pursue a career
as a writer
and author.
The scholarship was part of more
than $60,000 in scholarships awarded
to students for the 2021-22 school
year by the Education Scholarship
Foundation of the Virginia, Maryland
& Delaware Association of Electric
Cooperatives.
Since 2001, the Foundation
has provided approximately 780
scholarships totaling more than
$800,000. " Our electric cooperatives
are delighted to provide support to
these worthy students, " says Russell
G. " Rusty " Brown, chairman of the
Foundation Board and vice chairman
of the VMD Association Board.
Co-op Advocacy
Get up to speed on national issues
that affect you and your cooperative
in the new Voices for Cooperative
Power program.
The National
Rural Electric
Cooperative
Association, the
trade organization
that represents
cooperatives in our
region, has launched
the program at
voicesforcooperativepower.com.
According to NRECA's Louis
Finkel, the idea is to use the power
of grassroots on issues like broadband
and renewable energy.
By signing up, co-op members
will be in line for updates and
information on how to reach out
to Congress and federal agencies.
" We're connecting cooperative
communities through the use of
social media to have a thoughtful
and sustained dialogue about issues
of importance to them and to
the future of their cooperatives, "
Finkel says.
A Hero Passes
never forgot him.
If you met Guy DeGenaro, you
Whether it was as a glider pilot at
the Normandy landing or a professor
at Virginia
Commonwealth
University, DeGenaro
left an indelible
impression on
everyone he
encountered.
While his
death on Feb. 13
at age 99 saddened those who knew
him, it also brought an appreciation
for a life well lived.
" You know, it wasn't really a dream
of mine to see the world and be a
part of famous historical events, "
DeGenaro said in the NovemberDecember
2020 issue of Cooperative
Living. " But I guess that can just
happen when you join the service. "
DeGenaro enlisted in the Army Air
Corps at age 18 and served in the Air
Force for more than 26 years before
earning a doctorate and launching a
career teaching management and
organizational behavior. 
ThrowBack
Editor's note: Observing its 75th anniversary in 2021, Cooperative Living
is revisiting some of the stories it has published since its start in 1946.
Pioneer
of Power
uther E. Long got into the
electricity business by accident.
The Rockingham County, Va.,
native quit school after fifth grade,
took a college course nonetheless,
worked for a U.S. congressman from
Washington state and ended up as
a bookkeeper at a flour mill in
Harrisonburg.
A hydro generator powered the
mill, which shared electricity with
its neighbors. Demand grew rapidly,
and Long, managing the power side
of things, responded with a new
generator and switchboard. By 1930,
the company had 5,000 customers
in three counties.
4 | Cooperative Living | June 2021
L
Long was just getting started. He
managed the electric system in nearby
Elkton for six years and, drawing on his
organizing experience with flour mill
customers, became a driving force
behind the creation
of Shenandoah
Valley Electric
Luther E. Long
Cooperative in 1936.
The co-op was the
first in America to
manufacture its own
current, thanks to a
federally supported,
three-unit diesel
generator in Dayton.
And still Long
was just getting
started. The
generator kicked in
on Jan. 31, 1938. As
manager of SVEC, Long added a
fourth generator in 1939, a fifth in
1942 and two more in 1946. From
a modest 138 members in 1938, the
co-op stood at 1,650 miles of line and
4,850 members by 1946.
Oh, and when the 11
cooperatives in Virginia
organized Old Dominion
Power Cooperative, Long
was tapped as its first
coordinator. " We all feel
here, " he said, " that all
rural residents should
have the opportunity to
obtain the convenience
and benefits of electricity,
and that none should
be deprived just because
he is a bit harder
to reach. " 
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Cooperative Living June 2021

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